Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Exhibit Hall
Analyses of activated sludge samples from five wastewater treatment plants was carried out to assess the microbial diversity of 4-nitrophenol degraders, the effect of temperature on the variability of the bacterial community and the effect of immigration on the structure of bacterial communities. Highest probability of degradation of 1.0 was noted for activated sludge from one sample and 0.99 for three samples at 30oC and at the least inocula dilution (108 cells/ml). The neutral community model (NCM) showed that 4-NP degraders were selectively enriched (NTm = 11.514) with inputs from neutral mechanisms. Temperature was the deterministic factor causing the observed variations seen within the communities. Analysis of the microbial community showed that temperature and dilution affected abundance of the microbial communities while sequencing results identified organisms like Brevundimonas diminuta, Pseudomonas sp, Microbacterium terregens, Rhodococcus fascians, Dyadobacter sp, Mycobacterium sp, as 4-nitrophenol phenol degraders.