Characterisation of microbial floras and functional gene levels in an anaerobic/aerobic bio-reactor for the degradation of carboxymethyl cellulose

The current study determined the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) degradation efficiency, dominant microbial flora, eubacteria and archaebacteria characteristics, and expression levels of genes cel5A, cel6B, and bglC in an anaerobic/aerobic bio-reactor consisting of two-stage UASB (U1 and U2) and two-stage BAF (B1 and B2). The results showed that under three CMC loads, the CMC degradation efficiency of the UASB-BAF system was 91.25 %, 80.44 %, and 78.73 %, respectively. At higher CMC loads, the degradation of cellulose and transformation to cellobiose in U1 was higher, while the transformation to glucose was lower. The results of DGGE and real-time PCR indicated that cellulose degradation bacteria are dominant in U1, cellulose degradation bacteria and cellulose degradation symbiosis bacteria are dominant in B1, and non-cellulose degradation symbiosis bacteria are dominant in both U2 and B2. The rate-limiting enzyme gene of cellulose degradation in U1, B1, and B2 is cel6B, but it is cel5A in U2.Biotechnology & Applied MicrobiologySCI(E)EIPubMed1ARTICLE73195-32069