Enhancing biofilm formation in the hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor through bacterial Acyl-homoserine lactones

Highlights

● AHL-mediated quorum sensing is widely observed in H₂-denitrification systems.

● Inclusion of an external AHL source can enhance the induction of QS.

● C₁₄-HSL and C₄-HSL, especially C₁₄-HSL, can enhance biofilm formation.

● Tech to expedite autochthonous microbial biofilm formation has been proposed.

Abstract

The slow growth rate of autotrophic bacteria and regulation of biofilm thickness are critical factors that limit the development of a hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor (H₂-MBfR). The acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) mediated quorum sensing (QS) system is a crucial mechanism regulating biofilm behavior. However, the AHLs that promote biofilm formation in autotrophic denitrification systems and their underlying mechanisms, remain unclear. This study explored the impact of AHL-mediated QS signaling molecules on biofilm development in H₂-MBfR. This study revealed that C₁₄-HSL and C₄-HSL are potential signaling molecules that enhanced biofilm formation in long-term stable operating H₂-MBfR. Subsequent short-term experiments with C₁₄-HSL and C₄-HSL confirmed their ability to increase bacterial adhesion to carrier surfaces by promoting the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Functional gene annotation indicated that exogenous C₁₄-HSL and C₄-HSL increased the abundance of signal transduction (increased by 0.250%–0.375%), strengthening the inter bacterial QS response while enhancing cell motility (increased by 0.24% and 0.21%, respectively) and biological adhesion (increased by 0.044% and 0.020%, respectively), thereby accelerating the initial bacterial attachment to hollow fiber membranes and facilitating biofilm development. These findings contribute to the understanding of microbial community interactions in H₂-MBfRs and provide novel approaches for biofilm management in wastewater treatment systems.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor (H₂-MBfR) / Acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) / Quorum sensing (QS) / Biofilm enhancement

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CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Yuchao Chen: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing. Kun Dong: Methodology. Yiming Zhang: Resources. Junjian Zheng: Investigation. Minmin Jiang: Writing – review and editing. Dunqiu Wang: Methodology. Xuehong Zhang: Conceptualization. Xiaowu Huang: Validation. Lijie Zhou: Visualization, Conceptualization. Haixiang Li: Methodology, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Supervision.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this work by the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (China) (No. 2022GXNSFFA035033), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51878197), the Research funds of the Guangxi Key Laboratory of Theory and Technology for Environmental Pollution Control (China) (No. 2301Z003).

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data Availability

Data will be made available on request.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1902-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

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