Metaproteomics Applied to Activated Sludge for Industrial Wastewater Treatment Revealed a Dominant Methylotrophic Metabolism of Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii.

Salerno, Carlo; Benndorf, Dirk; Kluge, Sabine; Palese, Luigi; Reichl, Udo; Pollice, Alfieri

In biological wastewater treatments, microbial populations of the so-called activated sludge work together in the abatement of pollutants. In this work, the metabolic behavior of the biomass of a lab-scale plant treating industrial pharmaceutical wastewater was investigated through a metaproteomic approach. The complete treatment process included a membrane biological reactor (MBR) coupled with an advanced oxidation process (AOP) for partial breakdown of non-biodegradable molecules. Proteins from biomass samples collected pre- and post-AOP application were investigated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE), mass spectrometry (MS), and finally identified by database search. Results showed that most proteins remained constant between pre- and post-AOP. Methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) belonging to Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii appeared as the most constantly expressed protein in the studied consortium. Other identified proteins belonging to Hyphomicrobium spp. revealed a predominant methylotrophic metabolism, and H. zavarzinii appeared as a key actor in the studied microbial community.

ACTIVATED sludge process; SEWAGE purification; METHYLOTROPHIC microorganisms; MASS spectrometry; GEL electrophoresis; METHANOL dehydrogenase

Microbial Ecology, 2016, Vol 72, Issue 1, p9

0095-3628

Academic Journal

10.1007/s00248-016-0769-x