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Updated: May 11, 2026

Determination of the Settling Rate of Clay/Cyanobacterial Floccules
Published on: June 11, 2018
Metabolic and molecular methods to evaluate the organoclay effects on a bacterial community
Cristina Abbate1, Roberto Ambrosoli, Josè Luis Minati
1Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agrarie e Alimentari, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 98, 95123 Catania, Italy. cristina.abbate@unict.it
Abstract:
The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence exerted by two different commercial organoclays (DELLITE 43B and DELLITE 67G) on a model microbial consortium using microbial metabolic characterization with BIOLOG system and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) molecular approach. The information obtained from the molecular analyses, in their complex, account for the differences in species composition induced on the reference consortium by the contact with the organoclays under study. DELLITE 43B resulted to produce a marked selective effect, stimulating the quantitative increase especially of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes. A weaker effect was found for DELLITE 67G. On the other hand, Biolog analyses indicated a depressing action exerted by DELLITE 43B on the metabolic activity of the model microbial consortium as a whole. The presence of P. pseudoalcaligenes and B. borstelensis in the bacterial community after the treatments confirmed that a positive change in the microbial structure consortium occurred.
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