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Updated: Dec 27, 2025

Anti-virulent Disruption of Pathogenic Biofilms using Engineered Quorum-quenching Lactonases
Published on: January 1, 2016
Quorum quenching bacteria bioaugmented GO/PPy modified membrane in EMBR for membrane antifouling
Bei Jiang1, Qianzhi Zeng2, Yuan Hou2
1State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China; Liaoning Key Lab of Marine Fishery Molecular Biology, Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute, Dalian 116023, China.
Abstract:
A novel integrated system with quorum quenching (QQ) bacterium Burkholderia sp. ssn-2 bioaugmented graphene oxide/polypyrrole (GO/PPy) conductive polymercomposite membrane (CPM) in MBR with electric field (EMBR) was established. The integrated system exhibited the highest degradation efficiency for phenol (100%) and COD (93.2%-99.9%) during the 120 days operation. Membrane fouling in the integrated system was notably mitigated by the coupling effect of CPM + voltage and QQ bacterium ssn-2. The hydrophilicity and antibacterial activity of CPM inhibited the hydrophobic protein foulants adsorption, bacteria colonization and attachment on the CPM surface. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content was positively correlated with N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) concentration, and decreased with AHLs degradation by QQ bacterium ssn-2. The increased negative charge of EPS on the CPM surface augmented the electrostatic repulsion between the EPS and cathode CPM in the integrated system. Moreover, the coupling effect altered the microbial communities. A decreased AHLs concentration had a significantly negative correlation with QQ bacterium ssn-2 enrichment, which exhibited the dual effects of degrading phenol and AHLs, and enriching biopolymer-degrading genera Clostridium sensu strict and Acidovorax in the integrated system and on the CPM surface. This can lead to a decrease in the EPS content.
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