Special Abstracts / Journal of Biotechnology 150S (2010) S1–S576 S291

[P-E.213]

Soil microbial community response to differences in soil man-agements and seasonal changes

P. Paganin 1, M. Sampedro Pellicer 1, L. Ledda 2, S. Bagella 2, S.Madrau 2, M.C. Papaleo 2, R. Fani 2, C. Dalmastri 1, A.M. Bevivino 1,∗

1 ENEA Casaccia Research Center, Italy2 University of Florence, Italy

In this work, we aim to determine the influence of seasonalchanges and long-term effects of different land uses with increas-ing level of intensification on functional and genetic diversityof soil bacterial community. The study area is located in north-eastern Sardinia on granite substrate at 250-300 m a.s.l. in themesomediterranean phytoclimatic belt. The sampling sites wereselected inside the same environmental unit, where the potentialvegetation is represented by neutro-acidophylous cork-oak forest.Five sites were chosen, characterized by increasing use and man-agement intensity: Quercus suber forest, hayland-pasture rotation,semi-natural grassland, and ploughed and grass covered vineyard.Each site has been managed in the current way since at least 15years.

At each site, five separate sub-samples were collected in springand autumn over a 1-year period from the top 20 cm depth of soil.To obtain knowledge on the microbial diversity, both cultivation-based and cultivation-independent methods were applied to soilsamples. Our results indicated that seasonal changes affected thenumber of total cultivable bacteria while land use and managementpractices did not. Considering the eco-physiological index, in termsof growing strategy (K or r-strategists), no differences in functionaldiversity were observed since a predominance of r-strategists wasfound in all samples collected in each season. Cluster analysis of thebanding patterns obtained by CD-DGGE and T-RFLP revealed thatboth cultivable and total soil bacterial communities clearly differeddepending on season. Moreover, subgroups including soil bacte-rial communities associated to different land uses with increasinglevel of intensification were observed in each season, suggestingthat anthropogenic activity affected soil microbial community. Ourresults suggest that seasonal changes are the main factor affectingsoil microbial community composition.

This work is a part of the Italian Research Project “SOILSINK”: Cli-mate change and agro-forestry systems: impacts on soil carbon sinkand microbial diversity, financed by MIUR through the IntegratedSpecial Fund for Research (FISR).

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.235

[P-E.214]

Monitoring of anaeorobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX)process start-up via on-line measurements in a sequencingbatch reactor

B. Alpaslan Kocamemi ∗, D. Dityapak, N. Semerci

Marmara University, TurkeyKeywords: Anammox; biological nitrogen removal; activatedsludge; on-line monitoring

The ANeorobic AMMonium OXidation (ANAMMOX) process, inwhich the Planctomycete-like autotrophic bacteria oxidizes ammo-nium to N2 gas using nitrite as electron acceptor under anaeorobicconditions, is a very promising alternative to conventional nitrifica-tion/denitrification process for nitrogen removal from wastewater.However, long start-up time requirement of the process due to slowgrowth rate of Anammox bacteria is one of the main factors thatlimit the application of the process.

In this study, the start-up of the Anammox process was studiedin a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) seeded with sludge taken fromthe Anammox reactor in Rotterdam WWTP. Anammox activity wasfirst observed after 195 days of operation. The start of Anammoxactivity was mainly resulted from the operational changes made forDO level, settlement period, CO2 gas inflow and pH level. These find-ings could be very useful for the initial start of Anammox activityin a shorter period of time.

Following to the start of Anammox activity, the influent NH4and NO2 loadings were increased stepwise for 200 days. Duringthis period, DO, pH, ORP, temperature and conductivity values weremeasured continously via on-line measurement probes in the reac-tor. ORP and conductiviy measurements were strongly correlatedwith the treatment efficiency observed in the reactor, indicatingthat Anammox process performance could easily be followed byconductivity and ORP measurements.

To monitor and confirm the successful Anammox enrichmentin the system with time, sludge samples taken from the sysytemat regular time intervals were analyzed with Fluorescence in situhybridization (FISH) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). FISHanalysis using 16S rRNA targeting oligonucleotide probes Planc 040,Amx 368, Amx 820, Bs 820, Kst1275 showed that the populationdeveloped in the system mainly Ca. Brocadia and Ca. Scalindua.Morphological analysis via SEM was found very useful tool for theanalysis of enrichment.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2010.09.236

[P-E.215]

Can bacteria associated with willow explain differences in Cd-accumulation capacity between different cultivars?

N. Weyens 1,∗, K. Schellingen 1, J. Dupae 1, S. Croes 1, D. van derLelie 2, J. Vangronsveld 1

1 Hasselt University, Belgium2 Brookhaven National Laboratories, United StatesKeywords: phytoremediation; Cadmium; willow; plant-associatedbacteria

Phytoremediation has been proposed as an economically inter-esting alternative for remediation of metal contaminated soils. Itcan be applied on extended and diffusely contaminated areas andtargets the “bioavailable” fraction of metals, which is the most rel-evant fraction from an environmental risk assessment perspective.The most important drawback is the long time period required for