Analysis of microbial community structure in anaerobic digestion of food waste by PCR-TGGE
基于PCR-TGGE技术的餐厨垃圾厌氧消化微生物群落结构解析

The objective of this study was to better understand the transition of microbial communities during the anaerobic digestion (AD) of food waste at different volumetric organic loading rates. Tests were conducted in laboratory scale, single-phase reactors operated at loading rates ranged from 2.0 to 8.5 kg·m-3·d-1. The microbial community structure and dynamics were characterized by the 16S rDNA-based polymerase chain reaction-temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-TGGE) assay. The TGGE profiles analyzed by Dice similarity coefficients method and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) method indicated that the microbial community structure varied significantly at loading rates of 7.0~8.0 kg·m-3·d-1 and 8.5 kg·m-3·d-1, respectively, but insignificantly at the loading rate of 4.0~6.0 kg·m-3·d-1. In summary, significant phase transition in the microbial community structure occurred at the full range of 2.0 to 8.5 kg·m-3·d-1, with an optimal diversity of microbial communities observed at 7.0 kg·m-3·d-1.