Microbial community structure of enriched cultures fed with nitrous oxide as an electron acceptor

This project focused on nitrous oxide reducing bacteria, which contribute to mitigation of nitrous oxide in natural environments and engineered systems. We developed a special enrichment device, termed a Gas Permeable Membrane Device, continuously supplying nitrous oxide as an electron acceptor. This device allows enrichment of N2O reducing bacteria to be grown on the membrane surface. The device was inoculated with activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Tokyo, Japan. The microbial community structure of the enriched culture was investigated using V4 region of 16S rRNA gene.