PICRUSt2 functionally predicts organic compounds degradation and sulfate reduction pathways in an acidogenic bioreactor

doi:10.1007/s11783-021-1481-8

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2022, Vol. 16

Issue (4) : 47 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1481-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

PICRUSt2 functionally predicts organic compounds degradation and sulfate reduction pathways in an acidogenic bioreactor

Jun Li¹, Aimin Li¹(

), Yan Li², Minhui Cai¹, Gan Luo¹, Yaping Wu¹, Yechao Tian¹, Liqun Xing¹, Quanxing Zhang¹

¹. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
². Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China

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Abstract

• Over 70% reduction of sulfate was achieved for sulfate less than 12000 mg/L.

• The decrease of genes encoding (EC: 1.3.8.1) induced the accumulation of VFAs.

• The sulfate reduction genes were primary carried by genus Desulfovibrio.

• Sulfate favored assimilatory, but inhibited dissimilatory sulfate reduction process.

For comprehensive insights into the influences of sulfate on performance, microbial community and metabolic pathways in the acidification phase of a two-phase anaerobic system, a laboratory-scale acidogenic bioreactor was continuously operated to treat wastewater with elevated sulfate concentrations from 2000 to 14000 mg/L. The results showed that the acidogenic bioreactor could achieve sulfate reduction efficiency of greater than 70% for influent sulfate content less than 12000 mg/L. Increased sulfate induced the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), especially propionate and butyrate, which was the primary negative effects to system performance under the high-sulfate environment. High-throughput sequencing coupled with PICRUSt2 uncovered that the accumulation of VFAs was triggered by the decreasing of genes encoding short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (EC: 1.3.8.1), regulating the transformation of propanoyl-CoA to propenoyl-CoA and butanoyl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA of propionate and butyrate oxidation pathways, which made these two process hardly proceed. Besides, genes encoding (EC: 1.3.8.1) were mainly carried by order Clostridiales. Desulfovibrio was the most abundant sulfate-reducing bacteria and identified as the primary host of dissimilatory sulfate reduction functional genes. Functional analysis indicated the dissimilatory sulfate reduction process predominated under a low sulfate environment, but was not favored under the circumstance of high-sulfate. With the increase of sulfate, the assimilatory sulfate reduction process finally overwhelmed dissimilatory as the dominant sulfate reduction pathway in acidogenic bioreactor.

Keywords Acidogenic phase reactor High-sulfate wastewater Sulfate reduction Acidogenic fermentation PICRUSt2

Corresponding Author(s): Aimin Li

Issue Date: 25 August 2021

Cite this article:

Jun Li,Aimin Li,Yan Li, et al. PICRUSt2 functionally predicts organic compounds degradation and sulfate reduction pathways in an acidogenic bioreactor[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2022, 16(4): 47.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-021-1481-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2022/V16/I4/47

Tab.1 Operational parameters of the EGSB reactor

Fig.1 Performance of the acidogenic reactor. (a) Sulfate reduction. (b) COD removal efficiency. (c) Dissolved and free sulfide concentration. (d) Total VFA and each individual composition.

Fig.2 Microbial community composition. (a) The phylum level and (b) genus level for bacteria. S1, S2 and S3 corresponded to the samples with sulfate contents of 4000, 9000, and 12000 mg/L, respectively.

Fig.3 The phylogenetic tree was made by Neighbor-Joining method. Bootstrap replications of 1,000 were applied, and only bootstrap values greater than 50% are shown. The inner circle was constructed using the top 100 OTUs and colored by the phylum level. The middle of the figure includes six circles that display the species, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom of each OTU. The outer circle shows the relative abundance of the OTUs.

Fig.4 The acidogenic fermentation pathways and associated gene abundances. (a) Hydrolysis and pyruvate metabolism. (b) The propionate and butyrate oxidation pathways and the homoacetogenesis pathway.

Fig.5 The sulfate reduction pathways and associated gene abundances. (a) The dissimilatory and assimilatory sulfate reduction pathways. (b) The absolute abundance of dsrA identified using qPCR.

Fig.6 The hosts of each metabolism pathway identified by PICRUSt2. (a) Acidogenic fermentation and (b) sulfate reduction.

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