Microbial Community Structure of Activated Sludge for Biosolubilization of Two Different Rock Phosphates

A microbial consortium was directly taken from activated sludge and was used to solubilize rock phosphates (RPs) in a lab-scale bioreactor in this study. Results showed that the microbial consortium could efficiently release soluble phosphorus (P) from the RPs, and during 30-day incubation, it grew well in the bioreactor and reduced the pH of the solutions. The biosolubilization process was also illustrated by the observation of scanning electron microscopy combined with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), which showed an obvious corrosion on the ore surfaces, and most elements were removed from the ore samples. The analysis of microbial community structure by Illumina 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and 18S rRNA gene MiSeq sequencing reflected different microbial diversity and richness in the solutions added with different ore samples. A lower richness and diversity of bacteria but a higher richness and diversity of fungi occurred in the solution added with ore sample 1 compared to that of in the solution added with ore sample 2. Alphaproteobacteria and Saccharomycetes were the dominating bacterial and fungal group, respectively, both in the solutions added with ore samples 1 and 2 at the class level. However, their abundances in the solution added with ore sample 1 were obviously lower than that in the solution added with ore sample 2. This study provides new insights into our understanding of the microbial community structure in the biosolubilization of RPs by a microbial consortium directly taken from activated sludge.