Investigating microbial communities in a pilot-scale Fe and Mn removal biofiltration unit using high-throughput Illumina MiSeq data.. Microbial Communities in a Low Temperature Iron and Manganese Removal Biofiltration System.

In this study, we examined bacterially-mediated Fe and Mn oxidation under cold temperature regimes in an iron and manganese removal biofiltration system. We hypothesized that indigenous iron-oxidizing bacteria (FeOB) and manganese-oxidizing bacteria (MnOB) from the influent groundwater would become abundant in the biofilters relative to the groundwater. To investigate this, groundwater, biofilter media, and effluent samples were collected after the Mn and Fe removal in the biofiltration unit had reached a steady-state. Genomic DNA was extracted from these samples, and bacterial diversity was investigated using high-throughput Illumina Miseq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene (V4 region).