Microbial Function, Enzymatic Activities and Diversity in an Anaerobic-Anoxic-Aerobic Reactor System

Enzymatic activities of beta-glucosidase (β-GLC), leucine-aminopeptidase (LAP), and alkaline phosphatase (APA), corresponding to nutrient eliminations, and the microbial community structures were analyzed in an anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic reactor system. Results showed that most activity of β-GLC (64.2 μmol/(L·h)) associated with the largest fraction of small-molecular-weight carbohydrates was found in the aerobic reactor, indicating the existence of coupled hydrolysis-uptake mechanism in the aerobic bacteria. Similar activities of LAP presented in the anoxic and aerobic environments, whose increases accompanied by increments in nitrogen uptake rates greatly accelerated the processes of aerobic nitrification and anoxic denitrification. The highest APA activity displayed in the anaerobic reactor, however, dephosphorization performance was mainly achieved under aerobic condition. Microbial community fingerprints generated by polymerase chain reaction amplification and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) revealed that Proteobacterium, Actinobacterium, and Nitrospira were the predominant classes in the activated sludge and there was no evidence of community variations among each function reactor in the system with biomass recycling.