GOALI: Elucidating the synergistic role of anammox bacteria with flanking bacterial community members in anammox bioreactors under different environmental conditions

污水处理厂排放过量的氮(N)会通过富营养化对生态系统造成危害。富营养化是指在氮的刺激下藻类的过度生长。在极端情况下，富营养化会导致大范围的氧气流失，当藻类死亡时，鱼类会死亡。废水中的氮通常通过被称为硝化的过程被氧化为硝酸盐，然后在被称为反硝化的过程中被还原为气态氮。几十年来，硝化和反硝化一直被用于污水处理厂的脱氮。然而，这一过程是高度耗能的。最近，处理厂试图利用厌氧氨氧化(Anammox)来以较少的能量去除氮。Anammox已在国际上采用，目前已有几家全面投产的工厂。相比之下，Anammox在美国的接受度相对较低。这在一定程度上是由于担心外部干扰导致的工艺抑制。在这个项目中，研究人员将研究亚硝酸盐、硫化物和顽固性碳的外部扰动对厌氧氨氧化工艺稳定性的影响。这将通过在实验室规模的反应堆中研究微生物群落对这些扰动的反应来实现。研究小组将与废水处理公用事业公司DC Water合作。研究生、本科生和K-12学生将通过这一合作获得工业和创业经验。该项目将大大加强我们对Anammox工艺的了解，有可能导致在美国成功的全面应用。该项目的重点是管理N周期，直接应对美国国家工程院确定的“21世纪14大挑战”之一。尽管经过了三十多年的广泛研究，但仍有几个因素阻碍了厌氧氨氧化工艺在废水处理中的广泛应用。目前，还没有从蛋白质组和分子水平上了解厌氧氨氧化反应器对外界扰动的响应的研究，很少有研究考察其他细菌(即侧翼群落)在厌氧氨氧化浓缩中的作用。这个项目将通过使用元基因组学、元转录组学和蛋白质组学产生关于anammox群落的基本信息来解决这些知识差距。这些结果将使更强大的工程控制和采用这一创新的氮循环技术，以解决管理氮循环的国家工程院“14大挑战的21世纪”之一。该项目将由犹他大学的研究人员和废水处理公司DC Water合作实施。犹他州的研究人员将提供反应堆操作、细菌群落分析、细菌生物动力学和毒性分析等基础科学方面的专业知识，而DC Water将为将工作转化为全面应用提供学生培训和实习机会。本项目的目标是阐明Anammox过程中不同扰动下的完整功能基因网络。这一网络的成功开发将帮助工程师和科学家了解工艺的颠覆性，并促进高效和有弹性的Anammox系统的设计和更广泛的采用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Excessive nitrogen (N) releases from wastewater treatment plants can lead to ecosystem harm through eutrophication. Eutrophication is the excessive growth of algae stimulated by N. In extreme cases, eutrophication can lead to widespread loss of oxygen and fish kills when the algae die. N in wastewater is typically removed by oxidation to nitrate in a process called nitrification and subsequent reduction to gaseous nitrogen in a process called denitrification. Nitrification and denitrification have been used for N removal in wastewater treatment plants for decades. However, this process is highly energy intensive. More recently treatment plants have sought to utilize ANaerobic AMMonia OXidation (ANAMMOX) to remove N with less energy. ANAMMOX has been adopted internationally, with several full-scale plants currently operational. In contrast, the acceptance of ANAMMOX in the United States has been relatively limited. This is due in part to concerns about process inhibition due to external perturbations. In this project, researchers will study the effect of external perturbations by nitrite, sulfide and recalcitrant carbon on ANAMMOX process stability. This will be achieved by studying the response of the microbial community to these perturbations in laboratory scale reactors. The research team will collaborate with the wastewater treatment utility DC Water. Graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 students will obtain industrial and entrepreneurial experiences though this collaboration. This project will significantly enhance our understanding of the ANAMMOX process, potentially leading to successful full-scale applications in the United States. The project focus on managing the N cycle directly addresses one the "14 Grand Challenges of the 21st Century" identified by the National Academy of Engineering. Despite over three decades of extensive research, several factors still prevent widespread implementation of the ANAMMOX process for wastewater treatment. Currently, there are no studies that have focused on understanding the response of ANAMMOX reactors to external perturbations at the proteomic and molecular levels, and very few studies have examined the role of other bacteria (i.e. flanking community) in ANAMMOX enrichments. This project will address these knowledge gaps by generating fundamental information on ANAMMOX communities using metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and proteomics. These results will enable more robust engineering control and adoption of this innovative nitrogen cycling technology to address managing the nitrogen cycle as one of the National Academy of Engineering "14 Engineering Grand Challenges of the 21st Century". This project will be carried out by a collaboration between researchers at the University of Utah and the wastewater treatment utility DC Water. Utah researchers will provide expertise in fundamental science of reactor operation, bacterial community analysis, bacterial biokinetic and toxicity analysis, while DC Water will provide student training and internship opportunities for the translation of the work into full scale application. The goal of this project is to elucidate the complete functional gene network under different perturbations in the ANAMMOX process. Successful development of this network will help engineers and scientists to understand process upsets and facilitate the design and wider adoption of efficient and resilient ANAMMOX systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.