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Updated: May 1, 2026

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Published on: April 25, 2025
Microbial selection pressure is not a prerequisite for granulation: dynamic granulation and microbial community study
Dandan Zhou1, Shu Niu1, Yongjiao Xiong1
1Key Lab of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
Abstract:
Microbial selection pressure is traditionally supposed as a prerequisite for aerobic granulation. This work gives a different insight on this issue. Fluorescent microspheres were used to label the flocculent biomass granulation for a period of 47days in a continuous-flow bioreactor. Analysis of the distribution of fluorescent microspheres in granules revealed that the terminal phase of granulation is in a dynamic steady state, where bioflocs detach, collide and aggregate randomly. This revealed that the un-granulated biomass was the result of the dynamic aggregation and breakage, rather than the microbial species unable to be granulated. Furthermore, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profile and UPGMA dendrogram results showed similar microbial communities during the granulation. To sum up, microbial selection pressure was not a prerequisite for aerobic granulation from both of the dynamic granulation steps and molecular biology aspects.
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