DNA vs RNA based studies of nitrogen removal bacteria genes via qPCR

Improvements in water quality requires the removal of nitrogen compounds from wastewater. The most promising and cost-effective methods for this purpose are biological ones based on activated sludge microorganisms such as nitrifiers, denitrifiers, and anammox bacteria. Due to the most of the nitrogen removal bacteria are uncultivable in a laboratory, the application of the molecular tools is required to investigate microorganisms involved in the nitrogen removal. In case of this study for the analysis of relative genes abundance of nitrogen removal bacteria, quantitative PCR (qPCR) based on bacterial DNA and qPCR preceded by reverse transcription (RT-qPCR) based on bacterial mRNA as a template, were used with specific bacterial functional genes (amoA, nrxA, nirS, nirK, hzo). Samples from four anammox sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were analyzed, while the nitrogen removal process and bacteria growth were supported by biomass immobilization and nanoparticles addition. There were statistically significant differences between results obtained in the case of mRNA and DNA (p<0.05). Statistically significant positive correlations were found between results obtained with those two approaches. In case of mRNA analysis, positive results were obtained only for hzo, amoA and partly for nirS genes, despite additional purification and removal of inhibitors from samples prior to reaction.