QUINONE PROFILING OF BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES IN NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC SEWAGE ACTIVATED-SLUDGE FOR ENHANCED PHOSPHATE REMOVAL

Respiratory quinones were used as biomarkers to study bacterial commun ity structures in activated sludge reactors used for enhanced biologic al phosphate removal (EBPR), We compared the quinone profiles of EBPR sludges and standard sludges, of natural sewage and synthetic sewage, and of plant scale and laboratory scale systems, Ubiquinone (Q) and me naquinone (MK) components were detected in all sludges tested at molar MK/Q ratios of 0.455 to 0.981, The differences in MK/Q ratios were mu ch larger when we compared different wastewater sludges (i.e., raw sew age and synthetic sewage) than when we compared sludges from the EBPR and standard processes or plant scale and laboratory scale systems, In all sludges tested a Q with eight isoprene units (Q-8) was the most a bundant quinone, In the MK fraction, either tetrahydrogenated MK-8 or MK-7 was the predominant type, and there was also a significant propor tion of MK-6 to MK-8 in most cases, A numerical cluster analysis of th e profiles showed that the sludges tested fell into two major clusters ; one included all raw sewage sludges, and the other consisted of all synthetic sewage sludges, independent of the operational mode and scal e of the reactors and the phosphate accumulation, These data suggested that Q-8-containing species belonging to the class Proteobacteria (i. e., species belonging to the beta subclass) were the major constituent s of the bacterial populations in the EBPR sludge, as well as in stand ard activated sludge, Members of the class Actinobacteria (gram-positi ve bacteria with high DNA G+C contents) were the second most abundant group in both types of sludge, The bacterial community structures in a ctivated sludge processes may be affected more by the nature of the in fluent wastewater than by the introduction of an anaerobic stage into the process or by the scale of the reactors.