• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.459-465
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• 2013

A sequencing batch reactor was operated under different pH conditions to see the influence of pH to microbial community in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems. Long term influences of different steady-state pH conditions on the microbial community composition were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The shift in populations from polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) to Alphaproteobacteria was observed when pH was changed from 7.5 to 7.0. Alphaproteobacteria with the typical morphological traits of tetrad-forming organisms (TFOs) eventually became dominant members. The alphaproteobacterial TFOs were the phenotype expected for glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs), which accumulate large amount of glycogen into the cell. The results strongly suggested that low operational pH condition encourages the appearance of the GAOs in EBPR process, significantly reducing the EBPR capacity.