Investigating microbial community composition in a cold-adapted Mn(II)-amended bacterial consortium and identifying relatives of known MnOB using high-throughput Illumina MiSeq data

In this study, we examined bacterially-mediated Mn oxidation under low temperature (8 °C) conditions in Mn(II)-amended bacterial enrichment cultures. Manganese biofilter backwash sludge from a municipal water treatment facility was used as inoculum for enrichment culturing. The enrichments were incubated at 8 °C for 8 weeks. Manganese oxide precipitate formation was observed in the enrichment cultures by the end of the incubation. 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).