Taxonomic and functional profiling of nitrifying biofilms in freshwater,brackish and marine RAS biofilters

In recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), the crucial step of eliminating toxic N compounds like ammonia and nitrite is mediated via nitrifying microorganisms and takes place in biofilters. In this study, analyses of microorganisms colonizing biocarriers of nine moving-bed biofilters of three different RAS operated with freshwater, brackish or marine process water uncovered site specific communities. Illumina-based amplicon sequencing of the V4-region of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a high microbial diversity with 1000–2500 species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in all biofilters with the highest diversity in the brackish RAS. Proteobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Plantomycetes, Chloroflexi and Nitrospirae represented the most abundant phyla. 76 out of 674 known genera occurred in all nine biofilters and were defined as core-taxa, including nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira) as well as members of the (heterotrophic) genera Planctomyces, Blastopirellula, Nannocystis and Lewinella. Nitrifying communities composed of different, closely related and so far uncultured members of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were identified, strongly indicating that several potentially novel ammonia and nitrite oxidizing species are present in RAS biofilters. Relatives of known comammox Nitrospira were detected in the brackish biofilters, revealing 94–99 % identity of the 16S rRNA gene sequence to Ns. inopinata. Salinity tolerance tests with biocarriers derived from biofilters of the three distinct RAS showed an unexpected broad physiological flexibility with regard to salinity. Nitrification performance of freshwater nitrifiers was drastically reduced with increasing salinity and nearly completely inhibited at 15 PSU, while the brackish and marine nitrifiers showed a high resistance and maintained nitrification activity in a broad range of salt concentrations. This data can help to improve the nitrification process in RAS with changing salinity of the process water.     

土壤生态系统硝化微生物研究进展

微生物主导的硝化作用是生态系统中氮素循环的关键过程,其不仅与酸雨、温室气体、水体富营养化等环境问题的发生有关,还作用于土壤中氮素营养的转化,与人类生产生活密切相关。土壤生态系统中进行硝化作用的微生物包括细菌、古细菌、真菌等。这些微生物根据自身能量代谢类型的不同,利用不同的生物酶进行着不同机制的硝化作用。本文综述了目前已报道的生态系统中进行自养(经典自养硝化和全程氨氧化)和异养硝化作用的微生物类群、硝化作用关键酶及其编码基因类型、其在生态系统中多样的分布特征,以及其前沿的分子生态学研究方法。同时对不同类型硝化微生物类群今后的研究热点提出了展望,以期为系统地研究土壤生态系统中硝化微生物提供参考。