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Aalborg East Full-Scale EBPR Activated Sludge Community

Community ID CommunityMech:000139
Ecological State ENGINEERED
Environment full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal activated sludge — ontology label: activated sludge
ENVO:00002046 · HabitatMech ↗

An engineered full-scale activated sludge microbial community from the Aalborg East wastewater treatment plant in Denmark carrying out enhanced biological phosphorus removal. The community was profiled with an 18.2 Gb Illumina metagenome and qFISH, revealing phosphate-removal organisms including Candidatus Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera-related Actinobacteria, flanking substrate-providing bacteria, and metagenomic enrichment for phosphate metabolism and biofilm/floc formation functions.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and related PAOs — ontology label: Candidatus Accumulibacter NCBITaxon:327159 · TaxonMech · TraitMech
PRIMARY_DEGRADER CROSS_FEEDER
DOMINANT
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "Accumulibacter accounted for only 4.8% of all bacteria by qFISH, but the depth of sequencing enabled detailed insight into their microdiversity in the full-scale plant."
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "The organisms facilitating EBPR are called polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and the most important PAOs have been identified using culture independent methods as Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis"
Tetrasphaera-related actinobacterial PAOs — ontology label: Actinomycetota NCBITaxon:201174 · TaxonMech · TraitMech
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
DOMINANT
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "The organisms facilitating EBPR are called polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and the most important PAOs have been identified using culture independent methods as Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and the actinobacterial genus Tetrasphaera."
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "It is evident that actinobacteria (3% vs 30%), chloroflexi (3% vs 17%) and TM7 (0.3% vs 5%) were underrepresented in the metagenome compared with the qFISH data"
Bacteroidetes flanking community members — ontology label: Bacteroidota NCBITaxon:976 · TaxonMech · TraitMech
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
N/A
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "The high number of ORFs assigned to the phylum bacteroidetes is likely to be related to bacteria identified by the qFISH-probes targeting the family of saprospiraceae"
EBPR flanking bacteria — ontology label: Bacteria NCBITaxon:2 · TaxonMech · TraitMech
CROSS_FEEDER SECONDARY_FERMENTER
N/A
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "bacteria providing substrate to the PAOs, such as fermenters, and bacteria involved in hydrolysis of macromolecules"

Ecological Interactions

The graph shows only explicitly linked interaction participants. Community members without an asserted participant link are omitted; membership alone does not imply an interaction.

Ecological interaction network for Aalborg East Full-Scale EBPR Activated Sludge Community Bipartite graph where circles represent taxa and non-circular symbols represent interactions, with distinct shapes and colours for cross-feeding. Rare or untyped interactions share the Other symbol; exact curated types remain in the interaction details.
Taxon
Cross-feeding
Other

PAO Phosphate Storage Under EBPR Selection

PARTIAL - phosphate-metabolism enrichment supports PAO storage potential, not measured niche partitioning.

Participating Taxa: Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and related PAOs, Tetrasphaera-related actinobacterial PAOs

Metabolites: phosphate (CHEBI:18367 · MediaIngredientMech · CMMMech)

Biological Processes:

Downstream Effects:
→ Stable Full-Scale EBPR Phosphorus Removal

PARTIAL - PAO storage plausibly supports removal; its quantitative contribution was not isolated.

Evidence

  • PMID:22170425 - PARTIAL (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "The genetic potential for community function showed enrichment of genes involved in phosphate metabolism and biofilm formation, reflecting the selective pressure of the EBPR process."

Flanking-Community Substrate Provision To PAOs

CROSS_FEEDING

HYPOTHESIZED - flanking fermenters and hydrolyzers could supply PAOs; specific transferred substrates were not measured.

Source Taxon: EBPR flanking bacteria

Target Taxon: Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and related PAOs

Downstream Effects:
→ PAO Phosphate Storage Under EBPR Selection

HYPOTHESIZED - flanking bacteria supply PAO substrates; this study does not measure that transfer.

Evidence

  • PMID:22170425 - PARTIAL (OTHER)
    "bacteria providing substrate to the PAOs, such as fermenters, and bacteria involved in hydrolysis of macromolecules"

Sludge Floc and Biofilm Formation

PARTIAL - functional genes suggest floc-associated potential; partner-specific colonization effects were not measured.

Participating Taxa: Bacteroidetes flanking community members, EBPR flanking bacteria

Biological Processes:

Downstream Effects:
→ Stable Full-Scale EBPR Phosphorus Removal

PARTIAL - biomass retention may sustain removal; gene enrichment does not isolate that effect.

Evidence

  • PMID:22170425 - PARTIAL (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "A relatively high number of proteins was assigned to cell wall and capsule formation."
  • PMID:22170425 - PARTIAL (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "strong selective pressure on activated sludge bacteria for effective floc/biofilm formation that leads to the good settling properties that are required to retain the biomass in the plant."

Stable Full-Scale EBPR Phosphorus Removal

Aalborg East maintained greater than 95% phosphorus removal for several years before sampling.

Participating Taxa: Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and related PAOs, Tetrasphaera-related actinobacterial PAOs, Bacteroidetes flanking community members, EBPR flanking bacteria

Metabolites: phosphate (CHEBI:18367 · MediaIngredientMech · CMMMech), polyphosphate (CHEBI:16838 · MediaIngredientMech · CMMMech)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "stable EBPR performance for several years prior to the time of sampling removing >95% of the incoming P"

Associated Datasets

Dataset Type Repository Accession
Aalborg East EBPR metagenome contigs
Nonredundant contigs from the Aalborg East full-scale EBPR activated sludge metagenome. 		METAGENOMICS OTHER MG-RAST:4463936.3

Knowledge gaps & discussions (1)

KNOWLEDGE_GAP OPEN Which inferred transfers drive EBPR?

Metagenomic potential and plant performance do not isolate substrate-transfer or biomass-retention effects. Test these mechanisms directly.

Attaches to: ecological_interactions#PAO Phosphate Storage Under EBPR Selection, ecological_interactions#Flanking-Community Substrate Provision To PAOs, ecological_interactions#Sludge Floc and Biofilm Formation, ecological_interactions#Stable Full-Scale EBPR Phosphorus Removal

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Full-scale Aalborg East WWTP operating context domestic wastewater; stable EBPR; greater than 95% incoming phosphorus removed N/A
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "The plant treats mainly domestic wastewater and serves 100 000 person equivalents with an average load of 45 000 person equivalents."
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "The plant had stable EBPR performance for several years prior to the time of sampling removing >95% of the incoming P"
Anaerobic-anoxic-oxic process cycling anaerobic tank plus alternating denitrifying anoxic and nitrifying oxic conditions N/A
  • PMID:22170425 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "The plant has a biodenipho configuration, which includes an anaerobic tank and a tank with alternating denitrifying anoxic and nitrifying oxic conditions."

Growth Media

domestic wastewater (full-scale EBPR activated sludge)

Preparation notes: Municipal EBPR plant fed mainly domestic wastewater and maintained stable phosphorus removal above 95% before sampling. No incubation temperature, pH, or defined atmosphere reported for this full-scale in situ community.

Evidence

PMID:22170425

"The plant treats mainly domestic wastewater and serves 100 000 person equivalents with an average load of 45 000 person equivalents."

PMID:22170425

"The plant had stable EBPR performance for several years prior to the time of sampling removing >95% of the incoming P"

Cross-Mech Suite Links

Explore related entities across the CultureBotAI X-Mech knowledge bases:

HabitatMech: full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal activated sludge ↗ TaxonMech: Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and related PAOs ↗ TraitMech: Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis and related PAOs ↗ TaxonMech: Tetrasphaera-related actinobacterial PAOs ↗ TraitMech: Tetrasphaera-related actinobacterial PAOs ↗ TaxonMech: Bacteroidetes flanking community members ↗ TraitMech: Bacteroidetes flanking community members ↗ TaxonMech: EBPR flanking bacteria ↗ TraitMech: EBPR flanking bacteria ↗ CultureMech Growth Media ↗ PathwayMech Pathways ↗