{"title":"Sludge retention time in anaerobic digestion affects Archaea by a cascade through microeukaryotes","authors":"Maria Badra, Jule Freudenthal, Kenneth Dumack","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2025.123371","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anaerobic digestion is a crucial process for treating organic waste, such as wastewater sludge, agricultural residues and food waste. While the influence of physicochemical parameters on the prokaryotic community composition in anaerobic digesters has been extensively characterized, the role of biotic interactions in shaping the prokaryotic communities remains poorly understood. This study addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing the complete active microbiome of nine full-scale anaerobic digesters. Our findings reveal that eukaryotes, consisting primarily of protists and fungi, account for approximately 40 % of RNA sequence reads alongside dominant Archaea, indicating their substantial role in the digestion process. Our results suggest that the chosen sludge retention time during anaerobic digestion indirectly affects the archaeal community composition and thus treatment efficacy by cascading through eukaryotes, highlighting their integral role in the system. This study highlights the critical role of eukaryotes in regulating prokaryotic communities and their indirect contribution to the optimization of anaerobic digestion efficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 123371"},"PeriodicalIF":11.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Water Research","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135425002842","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion is a crucial process for treating organic waste, such as wastewater sludge, agricultural residues and food waste. While the influence of physicochemical parameters on the prokaryotic community composition in anaerobic digesters has been extensively characterized, the role of biotic interactions in shaping the prokaryotic communities remains poorly understood. This study addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing the complete active microbiome of nine full-scale anaerobic digesters. Our findings reveal that eukaryotes, consisting primarily of protists and fungi, account for approximately 40 % of RNA sequence reads alongside dominant Archaea, indicating their substantial role in the digestion process. Our results suggest that the chosen sludge retention time during anaerobic digestion indirectly affects the archaeal community composition and thus treatment efficacy by cascading through eukaryotes, highlighting their integral role in the system. This study highlights the critical role of eukaryotes in regulating prokaryotic communities and their indirect contribution to the optimization of anaerobic digestion efficiency.
期刊介绍:
Water Research, along with its open access companion journal Water Research X, serves as a platform for publishing original research papers covering various aspects of the science and technology related to the anthropogenic water cycle, water quality, and its management worldwide. The audience targeted by the journal comprises biologists, chemical engineers, chemists, civil engineers, environmental engineers, limnologists, and microbiologists. The scope of the journal include:
•Treatment processes for water and wastewaters (municipal, agricultural, industrial, and on-site treatment), including resource recovery and residuals management;
•Urban hydrology including sewer systems, stormwater management, and green infrastructure;
•Drinking water treatment and distribution;
•Potable and non-potable water reuse;
•Sanitation, public health, and risk assessment;
•Anaerobic digestion, solid and hazardous waste management, including source characterization and the effects and control of leachates and gaseous emissions;
•Contaminants (chemical, microbial, anthropogenic particles such as nanoparticles or microplastics) and related water quality sensing, monitoring, fate, and assessment;
•Anthropogenic impacts on inland, tidal, coastal and urban waters, focusing on surface and ground waters, and point and non-point sources of pollution;
•Environmental restoration, linked to surface water, groundwater and groundwater remediation;
•Analysis of the interfaces between sediments and water, and between water and atmosphere, focusing specifically on anthropogenic impacts;
•Mathematical modelling, systems analysis, machine learning, and beneficial use of big data related to the anthropogenic water cycle;
•Socio-economic, policy, and regulations studies.