FEMS Microbiology Ecology 73 (1990) 225-230 225 Published by Elsevt:,~ FEMSEC 00254 Metha:aogens revealed immunologically in granules from five Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) bioreactors grown on different substrates Eddie Koornneef ~.2 Alberto J.L. Macario ~, J. Tim C. Grotenhuis 2 and Everly Conway de Macario t Wadsworth Cent,:rfoT Laboratories and Research, New York Stale Dg~artment of Health and School o/Public HealJh State Unit~rsiry of New York, Ai,~c ~,y, NY, U.S.A. and 2 Department of Microbiolzgy, Agricultural Unioerslry. Wageningen. The Netheetamls Received 11 August 1989 Revision received and accepted 25 October 1989 Key words" G~ anular sludge; Antigenic fingerprinting; Methanogenic bacteria; UASB bioreactors 1. SUMMARY Methanogens were identified and quantified using antibody probes and the antigenic fingerprinting method in five different kinds of granular sludge taken from five Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) bioreaetors maintained on different substrates. The methanogenie flora pre- sent in each bioreactor was elucidated and ex- pressed in cells per gram dry weight. AutoHuores- eence, phase-contrast and bright field-microscopy of unstained and Gram-stained preparations were used in parallel with immunotecimology to char- acterize each methanogenic subpopulation. Ten different methanogens were prevalent in the five bioreactor systems. Methanogens antigenically re- lated to Methanobacrerium formicicura MF, M ethanobrevibacter arboriphilus AZ and Methanothrix soehr, genH Opfikon were found in Correspondence to: E. Conway de Macario, Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research, New York State Department of Health and School of Public Health State University of New York, Albany, NY 12201 0509, U.S.A. all five granules, while other methanogens were present in only some. A trend was observed to- wards a wider diversity of methanogenic subpopu- |ations parallelling an increase in the complexity of the bioreactor's substrate. 2. INTRODUCTION Anaerobic treatment of waste and wastewater has become increasingly popular over the last decade because of its benefits that include waste stabilization, lower nutrient requirements, lower biomass production and generation of methane gas [1,2], Rising energy costs and, more im- portantly, waste disposal problems are major in- centives for research in this field, which have led to new treatment systems [3,4]. One of these sys- tems for treating wastewater is the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) bioreactor [5-7]. This system utilizes granular sludgo with high specific activity; in addition, the excellent settfing properties of the granules eliminate the need for support materials [6,8]. However, little is 0168-6496/90/$03.50 © 1990 F~deration oi European Microbiological Societies Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article-abstract/6/3/225/539442 by guest on 20 May 2020