State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Apr 15;765:142703. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142703. Epub 2020 Oct 3.
Partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) is a promising and energy-efficient process for the sustainable nitrogen removal. However, its wide applications are still limited by the long start-up period and instability of long-term operation. Quorum sensing (QS), as a way of cell-to-cell communication generally regulating various microbial behaviors, has been increasingly investigated in PNA process, because QS may substantially manipulate the metabolism of microorganisms and overcome the limitations of PNA process. This critical review provides a comprehensive analysis of QS in PNA systems, and identifies the challenges and opportunities for the optimization of PNA process based on QS. The analysis is grouped based on the configurations of PNA process, including partial nitritation, anammox and single-stage PNA systems. QS is confirmed to regulate various properties of PNA systems, including microbial activity, microbial growth rate, microbial aggregation, microbial interactions and the robustness under adverse conditions. Major challenges in the mechanisms of QS, such as QS circuits, target genes and the response to environmental inputs, are identified. Potential applications of QS, such as short-term addition of certain acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) or substances containing AHLs, transient unfavorable conditions to stimulate the secretion of AHLs, are also proposed. This review focuses on the theoretical and practical cognation for QS in PNA systems, and serves as a stepping stone for further QS-based strategies to enhance nitrogen removal through PNA process.
部分亚硝化-厌氧氨氧化（PNA）是一种有前途且节能的可持续脱氮工艺。然而，其广泛应用仍受到启动时间长和长期运行不稳定的限制。群体感应（QS）作为一种普遍调节各种微生物行为的细胞间通讯方式，在 PNA 工艺中越来越受到研究，因为 QS 可能会显著改变微生物的代谢，并克服 PNA 工艺的局限性。本综述全面分析了 PNA 系统中的 QS，并确定了基于 QS 优化 PNA 工艺的挑战和机遇。分析基于 PNA 工艺的配置进行分组，包括部分亚硝化、厌氧氨氧化和单级 PNA 系统。QS 被证实可调节 PNA 系统的各种特性，包括微生物活性、微生物生长速率、微生物聚集、微生物相互作用以及在不利条件下的稳健性。确定了 QS 机制中的主要挑战，例如 QS 回路、靶基因和对环境输入的响应。还提出了 QS 的潜在应用，例如短期添加某些酰基高丝氨酸内酯（AHLs）或含有 AHLs 的物质、短暂的不利条件刺激 AHLs 的分泌。本综述重点关注 PNA 系统中 QS 的理论和实际关联，为进一步基于 QS 的策略提供了基础，以通过 PNA 工艺增强脱氮。
