Metagenomic analysis of the sludge microbial community in a lab-scale denitrifying phosphorus removal reactor

Denitrifying phosphorus removal is an attractive wastewater treatment process due to its reduced carbon source demand and sludge minimization potential. In the present study, the metagenome of denitrifying phosphorus removal sludge from a lab-scale anaerobic-anoxic SBR was generated by Illumina sequencing to study the microbial community. Compared with the aerobic phosphorus removal sludge, the denitrifying phosphorus removal sludge demonstrated quite similar microbial community profile and microbial diversity with sludge from Aalborg East EBPR WWTP. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phylum; within Proteobacteria, β-Proteobacteria was the most dominant class, followed by α-, γ-, δ-, and ε-Proteobacteria. The genes involved in phosphate metabolism and biofilm formation reflected the selective pressure of the phosphorus removal process. Moreover, ppk sequence from DPAO was outside the Accumulibacter clusters, which suggested different core phosphorus removal bacteria in denitrifying and aerobic phosphorus removal systems. In a summary, putative DPAO might be a novel genus that is closely related between Accumulibacter and Dechloromonas within Rhodocyclus. The microbial community and metabolic profiles achieved in this study will eventually help to improve the understanding of key microorganisms and the entire community in order to improve the phosphorus removal efficiency of EBPR processes.