MBR virome

This study aims to systematically investigate the dynamics of bacterium-phage interactions and the ecological role of phages during membrane biofouling development under various hydraulic and chemical stress conditions. Membrane fouling layers were collected at different development stages and under different backwashing operations and were analyzed for EPS composition, oxidative stress enzyme activity, and QS signaling molecules. Integrating metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches, we tracked microbial diversity, dominant species succession, and network interactions to reveal microbial adaptation to membrane surface microenvironments. Additionally, the dynamics of bacterium-phage symbiotic relationships were characterized by analyzing temperate phages, phage host range, and dominant hosts. We further mined representative AMGs in the phages and validated their transcriptional activities to investigate the mechanism for maintaining bacterium-phage symbiosis. This study provides new insights into microbial adaptation mechanisms during membrane biofouling and lays the foundation for innovative biofouling control strategies.