The Diversity Analysis of the Microbial Community in Wastewater by Amplified rDNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA)

Abstract Activated sludge, a common biological treatment method for both municipal and industrial waste water, represents a complex microbial community. Due to intricate interactions within the microbial community, process control of waste water treatment plants can be difficult. Population shifts within the microbial community may results from the changes in the plant operating conditions and cause sludge quality problems such as poor sludge settling, compaction and dewatering. Monitoring of the microbial populations may help in the diagnosis and correction of such sludge problems. This study employed a PCR-based 16S rDNA, amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) approach to characterize the microbial community structure in wastewater. Samples were collected from two wastewater treatment plants, in Jaipur City, India. Each PCR product was obtained by PCR with eubacteria 16S rDNA. After amplification, the 16S rDNA PCR products were digested with 4-base site specific restriction endonucleases. Restriction pattern was analyzed with four endonucleases ( Alu I, Msp I, HhaI , and HaeIII). The result of the bacterial community analysis, by ARDRA revealed that the two wastewater treatment plants carry significantly different microbial population, whereas the diversity among the samples of same plant is not much. These results suggests that Amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) is an extremely valuable tool for assessing the diversity from waste water treatment plants. Key words: ARDRA , Microbial community, Wastewater 1 Birla Inst of Scientific Research, Statue Circle, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India 2 Deptt of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India --- Please Cite This Article As: Shivani Chandra, Sivaramaiah Nalapeta, Sampat Nehra, Alok Kumar Varshney, Nupur Mathur, P C. Trivedi, Krishna Mohan Medicherla. 2010. The Diversity Analysis of the Microbial Community in Wastewater by Amplified rDNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA). J. Ecobiotechnol. 2(4):51-55.