Cooperative Mn(II) oxidation between two bacterial strains in an aquatic environment

• Cooperative Mn(II) oxidation most likely occurs in natural aquatic ecosystems.
• The ratio of the two strains is crucial to cooperative Mn(II) oxidation.
• Low nutrient content facilitates the cooperative Mn(II) oxidation.
• The two strains produce quite high Mn(II) oxidation rate at low relative abundance.
• Cooperative Mn(II) oxidation suggests an alternative method to treat wastewater.

In natural or engineered environments, diverse interspecific interactions among two or more microbial taxa may profoundly affect the transformation of organic compounds in the media. Little is known, however, about how these organisms and interactions affect the transformation of heavy metals. Recently, we found an interaction between two non-Mn(II)-oxidizing (when in monoculture) strains, Arthrobacter sp. QXT-31 and Sphingopyxis sp. QXT-31, which, when cultured in combination, resulted in Mn(II)-oxidizing activity in synthetic media. In order to study the occurrence likelihood of cooperative Mn(II) oxidation in natural water and discharged effluent, we initially identified an optimal ratio of the two strains in a combined culture, as well as the impacts of external factors on the cooperative oxidation. Once preferred initial conditions were established, we assessed the degree and rate of Mn(II) oxidation mediated by the combined QXT-31 strains (henceforth referred to as simply ‘QXT-31’) in three different water types: groundwater, domestic sewage and coking wastewater. Results showed that Mn(II) oxidation only occurred when the two strains were within a specific ratios range. When introduced to the test waters at the preferred ratio, QXT-31 demonstrated high Mn(II)-oxidizing activities, even when relative abundance of QXT-31 was very low (roughly 1.6%, calculated by 454 pyrosequencing events on 16S rcDNA). Interestingly, even under low relative abundance of QXT-31, removal of total organic carbon and total nitrogen in the test waters was significantly higher than the control treatments that were not inoculated with QXT-31. Data from our study indicate that cooperative Mn(II) oxidation is most likely to occur in natural aquatic ecosystems, and also suggests an alternative method to treat wastewater containing high concentrations of Mn(II).