Impact of substrate material and chlorine/chloramine on the composition and function of a young biofilm microbial community as revealed by high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing

Abstract The bacterial composition of biofilms in drinking water distribution systems is significantly impacted by the disinfection regime and substrate material. However, studies that have addressed the changes in the biofilm community during the early stage of formation (less than 10 weeks) were not yet adequate. Here, we explore the effects of the substrate materials (cast iron, stainless steel, copper, polyvinyl chloride, and high density polyethylene) and different disinfectants (chlorine and chloramine) on the community composition and function of young biofilm by using 16S rDNA sequencing. The results showed that Alphaproteobacteria (39.14%–80.87%) and Actinobacteria (5.90%–40.03%) were the dominant classes in chlorine-disinfection samples, while Alphaproteobacteria (17.46%–74.18%) and Betaproteobacteria (3.79%–68.50%) became dominant in a chloraminated group. The infrequently discussed genus Phreatobacter became predominant in the chlorinated samples, but it was inhibited by chloramine and copper ions. The key driver of the community composition was indicated as different disinfectants according to principle coordination analysis (PCoA) and Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (Adonis test), and the bacterial community changed significantly over time. Communities of biofilms grown on cast iron showed a great distance from the other materials according to Bray-Curtis dissimilarity, and they had a unique dominant genus, Dechloromonas. A metagenomics prediction based on 16S rDNA was used to detect the functional pathways of antibiotic biosynthesis and beta-lactam resistance, and it revealed that several pathways were significantly different in terms of their chlorinated and chloraminated groups.