TY - JOUR
T1 - N-acyl-homoserine-lactones signaling as a critical control point for phosphorus entrapment by multi-species microbial aggregates
AU - Xu, Ying
AU - Curtis, Thomas
AU - Dolfing, Jan
AU - Wu, Yonghong
AU - Rittmann, Bruce E
N1 - Funding information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41825021, 41961144010 and 31772396), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BZ2019015 and BE2020731), and the Original Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZDBS-LY-DQC024).
PY - 2021/10/1
Y1 - 2021/10/1
N2 - Quorum sensing (QS) has been extensively studied in pure stains of microorganisms, but the ecological roles of QS in multi-species microbial aggregates are poorly understood due to the aggregates' heterogeneity and complexity, in particular the phosphorus (P) entrapment, a key aspect of element cycling. Using periphytic biofilm as a microbial-aggregate model, we addressed how QS signaling via N-acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHLs) regulated P entrapment. The most-abundant AHLs detected were C8-HSL, 3OC8-HSL, and C12-HSL, are the primary regulator of P entrapment in the periphytic biofilm. QS signaling-AHL is a beneficial molecule for bacterial growth in periphytic biofilm and the addition of these three AHLs optimized polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) community. Growth promotion was accompanied by up-regulation of pyrimidine, purine and energy metabolism. Both intra- and extra-cellular P entrapment were enhanced in the addition of AHLs. AHLs increased extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production to drive extracellular P entrapment, via up-regulating amino acids biosynthesis and amino sugar/nucleotide sugar metabolism. Also, AHLs improved intracellular P entrapment potential by regulating genes involved in inorganic-P accumulation (ppk, ppx) and P uptake and transport (pit, pstSCAB). This proof-of-concept evidence about how QS signaling regulates P entrapment by microbial aggregates paves the way for managing QS to enhance P removal by microbial aggregates in aquatic environments. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]
AB - Quorum sensing (QS) has been extensively studied in pure stains of microorganisms, but the ecological roles of QS in multi-species microbial aggregates are poorly understood due to the aggregates' heterogeneity and complexity, in particular the phosphorus (P) entrapment, a key aspect of element cycling. Using periphytic biofilm as a microbial-aggregate model, we addressed how QS signaling via N-acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHLs) regulated P entrapment. The most-abundant AHLs detected were C8-HSL, 3OC8-HSL, and C12-HSL, are the primary regulator of P entrapment in the periphytic biofilm. QS signaling-AHL is a beneficial molecule for bacterial growth in periphytic biofilm and the addition of these three AHLs optimized polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) community. Growth promotion was accompanied by up-regulation of pyrimidine, purine and energy metabolism. Both intra- and extra-cellular P entrapment were enhanced in the addition of AHLs. AHLs increased extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production to drive extracellular P entrapment, via up-regulating amino acids biosynthesis and amino sugar/nucleotide sugar metabolism. Also, AHLs improved intracellular P entrapment potential by regulating genes involved in inorganic-P accumulation (ppk, ppx) and P uptake and transport (pit, pstSCAB). This proof-of-concept evidence about how QS signaling regulates P entrapment by microbial aggregates paves the way for managing QS to enhance P removal by microbial aggregates in aquatic environments. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]
KW - N-acyl-homoserine-lactone
KW - Periphytic biofilm
KW - Phosphorus entrapment
KW - Phosphorus entrapment gene
KW - Quorum sensing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114680527&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117627
DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117627
M3 - Article
C2 - 34509868
SN - 0043-1354
VL - 204
JO - Water Research
JF - Water Research
M1 - 117627
ER -
