Dynamics of nitrogen compounds and functional genes in a nitrification-denitrification coupling process

Abstract

The dynamics of nitrogen compounds and RNA-based functional genes were characterized in the nitrification-denitrification coupling process. For the removal of residual ammonium, intermittent aeration was introduced in the denitrification reactor. N2O production was not observed in both reactors. In both reactors, the nitrifying genes (achaeal-amoA, bacterial-amoA and hor) and denitrifying genes (narG, nirK, norB and nosZ) had a copy number of 3.92 × 102−7.25 × 105 and 2.85 × 102−3.06 × 104 per ng of DNA, respectively. These results suggest that denitrification and nitrification reactions occur in both the nitrification and denitrification reactors, respectively. Therefore, the coupling process is a promising one for the conversion of ammonium to nitrogen without generating N2O. © 2020, The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology