Microbial diversity in hypersaline wastewater: the example of tanneries

In contrast to conventional wastewater treatment plants and saline environments, little is known regarding the microbial diversity of hypersaline wastewater. In this study, the microbial communities of a hypersaline tannery effluent, and those of three treatment systems operating with the tannery effluent, were investigated using 16S rDNA phylogenetic markers. The comparative analysis of 377 bacterial sequences revealed the high diversity of this type of hypersaline environment, clustering within 193 phylotypes (≥ 97% similarity) and covering 14 of the 52 divisions of the bacterial domain, i.e. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Chlorobi, Planctomycetes, Spirochaetes, Synergistes, Chloroflexi, Thermotogae, Verrucomicrobia, OP3, OP11 and TM7. Most of the phylotypes were related to halophilic and pollutant-degrading bacteria. Using statistical analysis, the diversity of this type of environment was compared to that of other environmental samples selected on the basis of their salinity, oxygen content and organic load.

[1]  E. M. Prager,et al.  Stratification of microbial assemblages in Mono Lake, California, and response to a mixing event , 2001, Hydrobiologia.

[2]  J Keller,et al.  Bacterial community structures of phosphate-removing and non-phosphate-removing activated sludges from sequencing batch reactors , 1995, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[3]  K. Schleifer,et al.  ARB: a software environment for sequence data. , 2004, Nucleic acids research.

[4]  H. Noller,et al.  Gene organization and primary structure of a ribosomal RNA operon from Escherichia coli. , 1981, Journal of molecular biology.

[5]  Microbiology and biogeochemistry of hypersaline environments , 1999 .

[6]  R. Moletta,et al.  Molecular microbial diversity of an anaerobic digestor as determined by small-subunit rDNA sequence analysis , 1997, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[7]  F. Rodríguez-Valera,et al.  Evaluation of prokaryotic diversity by restrictase digestion of 16S rDNA directly amplified from hypersaline environments , 1995 .

[8]  William D. Grant,et al.  Phylogenetic diversity of soda lake alkaliphiles , 1996 .

[9]  R Moletta,et al.  Treatment of Hypersaline Industrial Wastewater by a Microbial Consortium in a Sequencing Batch Reactor , 2004, Environmental technology.

[10]  N. Saitou,et al.  The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. , 1987, Molecular biology and evolution.

[11]  Jean-Jacques Godon,et al.  Microbial 16S rDNA diversity in an anaerobic digester , 1997 .

[12]  J. G. Kuenen,et al.  Haloalkaliphilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in soda lakes. , 2005, FEMS microbiology reviews.

[13]  B. Peyton,et al.  Biotransformation of Toxic Organic and Inorganic Contaminants by Halophilic Bacteria , 2004 .

[14]  Robert K. Colwell,et al.  Statistical methods for estimating species richness of woody regeneration in primary and secondary rain forests of northeastern Costa Rica , 1998 .

[15]  C. Litchfield.  Microbial Molecular and Physiological Diversity in Hypersaline Environments , 2004 .

[16]  Thirumalachari Ramasami,et al.  Sustaining tanning process through conservation, recovery and better utilization of chromium , 2003 .

[17]  J. Comiskey,et al.  Forest biodiversity research, monitoring and modeling. Conceptual background and Old World case studies , 1998 .

[18]  M. Sogin,et al.  Benthic eukaryotic diversity in the Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent environment , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[19]  F. Rodríguez-Valera,et al.  Sequencing of Bacterial and Archaeal 16S rRNA Genes Directly Amplified from a Hypersaline Environment , 1995 .

[20]  J. Hollibaugh,et al.  Depth Distribution of Microbial Diversity in Mono Lake, a Meromictic Soda Lake in California , 2003, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[21]  M Torrijos,et al.  Anaerobic digestion of tannery soak liquor with an aerobic post-treatment. , 2006, Water research.

[22]  M Torrijos,et al.  Halophilic biological treatment of tannery soak liquor in a sequencing batch reactor. , 2005, Water research.

[23]  R Amann,et al.  Phylogenetic analysis and in situ identification of bacteria in activated sludge , 1997, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[24]  Frede Thingstad,et al.  Prokaryotic genetic diversity throughout the salinity gradient of a coastal solar saltern. , 2002, Environmental microbiology.

[25]  A. Chao,et al.  ESTIMATING THE NUMBER OF SHARED SPECIES IN TWO COMMUNITIES , 2000 .

[26]  A Ohashi,et al.  Phylogenetic diversity of mesophilic and thermophilic granular sludges determined by 16S rRNA gene analysis. , 1998, Microbiology.

[27]  S. Giovannoni,et al.  The uncultured microbial majority. , 2003, Annual review of microbiology.

[28]  M. M. Stoop.  Water management of production systems optimised by environmentally oriented integral chain management : case study of leather manufacturing in developing countries , 2003 .

[29]  J. Willison,et al.  Molecular sequence analysis of prokaryotic diversity in the anoxic sediments underlying cyanobacterial mats of two hypersaline ponds in Mediterranean salterns. , 2003, FEMS microbiology ecology.

[30]  W. M. Wiegant,et al.  Full scale experience with tannery water management: an integrated approach , 1999 .

[31]  A. del Moral,et al.  Moderately Halophilic, Exopolysaccharide-Producing Bacteria , 2004 .

[32]  C. Litchfield,et al.  Microbial diversity and complexity in hypersaline environments: A preliminary assessment , 2002, Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[33]  R. Amann,et al.  Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of the prokaryotic community inhabiting crystallizer ponds. , 1999, Environmental microbiology.

[34]  R. Amann,et al.  Extremely Halophilic Bacteria in Crystallizer Ponds from Solar Salterns , 2000, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[35]  O. White,et al.  Environmental Genome Shotgun Sequencing of the Sargasso Sea , 2004, Science.

[36]  J. Delgenès,et al.  Characterisation of the microbial diversity in a pig manure storage pit using small subunit rDNA sequence analysis. , 2005, FEMS microbiology ecology.

[37]  A. Oren.  Microbiology and Biogeochemistry of Hypersaline Environments , 1998 .

[38]  I. Good.  THE POPULATION FREQUENCIES OF SPECIES AND THE ESTIMATION OF POPULATION PARAMETERS , 1953 .

[39]  James R. Cole,et al.  The Ribosomal Database Project (RDP-II): previewing a new autoaligner that allows regular updates and the new prokaryotic taxonomy , 2003, Nucleic Acids Res..

[40]  S. Joye,et al.  Analysis of Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria from Hypersaline Mono Lake, California, on the Basis of 16S rRNA Sequences , 2000, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.