Characterization of efficient aerobic denitrifiers isolated from two different sequencing batch reactors by 16S-rRNA analysis

By adopting two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) A and B, nitrate as the substrate, and the intermittent aeration mode, activated sludge was domesticated to enrich aerobic denitrifiers. The pHs of reactor A were approximately 6.3 at DOs 2.2–6.1 mg/l for a carbon source of 720 mg/l COD; the pHs of reactor B were 6.8–7.8 at DOs 2.2–3.0 mg/l for a carbon source of 1500 mg/l COD. Both reactors maintained an influent nitrate concentration of 80 mg/l NO3−-N. When the total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal efficiency of both reactors reached 60%, aerobic denitrifier accumulation was regarded completed. By bromthymol blue (BTB) medium, 20 bacteria were isolated from the two SBRs and DNA samples of 8 of these 20 strains were amplified by PCR and processed for 16SrRNA sequencing. The obtained results were analysed by a Blast similarity search of the GenBank database, and constructing a phylogenetic tree for identification by comparison. The 8 bacteria were found to belong to the genera Pseudomonas, Delftia, Herbaspirillum and Comamonas. At present, no Delftia has been reported to be an aerobic denitrifier.