Roles of quorum sensing in biological wastewater treatment: A critical review

Quorum sensing (QS) and quorum quenching (QQ) are increasingly reported in biological wastewater treatment processes because of their inherent roles in biofilm development, bacterial aggregation, granulation, colonization, and biotransformation of pollutants. As such, the fundamentals and ubiquitous...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemosphere (Oxford) 2019-04, Vol.221, p.616-629
Main Authors: Maddela, Naga Raju, Sheng, Binbin, Yuan, Shasha, Zhou, Zhongbo, Villamar-Torres, Ronald, Meng, Fangang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biofilm
Biofilms - growth & development
Biofouling
Life Sciences
Microbial community
Quorum quenching
Quorum Sensing
Waste Water - microbiology
Wastewater treatment
Water Purification - methods
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Summary:Quorum sensing (QS) and quorum quenching (QQ) are increasingly reported in biological wastewater treatment processes because of their inherent roles in biofilm development, bacterial aggregation, granulation, colonization, and biotransformation of pollutants. As such, the fundamentals and ubiquitous nature of QS bacteria are critical for fully understanding the process of the wastewater treatment system. In this article, the details of QS-based strategies related to community behaviors and phenotypes in wastewater treatment systems were reviewed. The molecular aspects and coexistence of QS and QQ bacteria were also mentioned, which provide evidence that future wastewater treatment will indispensably rely on QS-based strategies. In addition, recent attempts focusing on the use of QQ for biofilm or biofouling control were also summarized. Nevertheless, there are still several challenges and knowledge gaps that warrant future targeted research on the ecological niche, abundance, and community of QS- and QQ-bacteria in environmental settings or engineered systems. •Future WWT processes will indispensably rely on QS-based signal manipulation.•The phenotypic governing factor in WWT facilities is the coexistence of QQ and QS.•Pollutant removal is scrupulously regulated by QS signals during WWT.•Challenges in QS-QQ strategy for WWT process needs further research.
ISSN:0045-6535
1879-1298
DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.01.064