Abstract Gram-negative ( G-) bacteria, such as denitrifying bacteria and anaerobic ammonia oxidation bacteria, are highly social organisms capable of sophisticated cooperative behavior mediated via quorum sensing. As signal molecules of the chemical communication, N-acyl-homoserine lactones ( AHLs ) can mediate the quorum sensing of the functional microbial population and regulate the population density. To understand the growth of functional microbial population and the mechanism for biological nitrogen removal in upflow microaerobic sludge reactors ( UMSRs ) treating organic wastewater with low ratio of chemical oxygen demand to total nitrogen, a method was established to simultaneously detect AHLs in the microaerobic processes. Water-sludge mixtures sampled from the UMSRs were pretreated in sequence by liquid-liquid extraction using ethyl acetate, rotary evaporation, constant volume with methanol, separation by C18 column. Gradient elution was carried out using 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate ( containing 0 . 1% formic acid ) and methanol as mobile phases. On the base of multiple reaction monitoring analysis, a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization was introduced to detect the target compounds. Nine kinds of AHLs were used to evaluate the established method and the results showed that the detection limits were 0 . 01-0 . 5 μg/L and all of the AHLs presented excellent linearity with the concentration ranging from 0 . 5 to 100 μg/L. The recovery and relative standard deviation ranged from 62. 5% to 118. 1% and 2. 9% to 12. 1%, respectively. The analysis could be finished within 6. 5 min. The rapid, accurate and precise method for detecting AHLs provided a new insight into the growth and metabolic activity of functional microbial population in the activated sludge processes to understand the mechanism of biological nitrogen removal, suggesting a good application in regulation and operation of wastewater biological treatment processes.%为揭示处理低碳氮比废水的微氧活性污泥系统的生物脱氮机制,了解脱氮功能菌群的群体生长和代谢规律,建立了超高效液相色谱-串联质谱同时定量检测介导革兰氏阴性(G-)细菌群体感应信号分子酰基高丝氨酸内酯( AHLs)的方法。取自升流式微氧活性污泥反应器的泥水混合物,使用乙酸乙酯液液萃取,旋转蒸干后以甲醇定容,经C18色谱柱分离。以5 mmol/L乙酸铵(含0.1%甲酸)和甲醇为流动相进行梯度洗脱,采用多反应离子监测模式,使用配有电喷雾离子源的三重四极杆质谱进行检测。对9种AHLs的检测结果表明,在0.5~100μg/L范围内呈现良好的线性关系,检出限为0.01~0.5μg/L,回收率为62.5%~118.1%,相对标准偏差为2.9%~12.1%,分析时间为6.5 min。本方法具有快速、准确和精密等特点,可及时反映活性污泥功能菌群的生长状态和代谢活性,对了解生物脱氮系统的生物学机制和废水生物处理系统的运行调控具有重要意义。
展开▼
