A time-course analysis of four full-scale anaerobic digesters in relation to the dynamics of change of their microbial communities

摘要

This study describes the microbial community richness, -dynamics, and -organization of fournfull-scale anaerobic digesters during a time-course study of 45 days. The microbial communitynwas analyzed using a Bacteria- and Archaea-targeting 16S rRNA gene-based Terminal-RestrictionnFragment Length Polymorphism approach. Clustering analysis separated meso- and thermophilicnreactors for both archaeal and bacterial communities. Regardless of the operating temperature,neach installation possessed a distinct community profile. For both microbial domains, about 8ndominant terminal-restriction fragments could be observed, with a minimum of 4 and a maximumnof 14. The bacterial community organization (a coefficient which describes the specific degree ofnevenness) showed a factor 2 more variation in the mesophilic reactors, compared with thenthermophilic ones. The archaeal community structure of the mesophilic UASB reactor was foundnto be more stable. The community composition was highly dynamic for Bacteria and Archaea,nwith a rate of change between 20–50% per 15 days. This study illustrated that microbialncommunities in full-scale anaerobic digesters are unique to the installation and that communitynproperties are dynamic. Converging complex microbial processes such as anaerobic digestionnwhich rely on a multitude of microbial teams apparently can be highly dynamic.