Analysis of archaeal communities in full-scale anaerobic digesters using 454 pyrosequencing

Archaeal communities were investigated using 454 pyrosequencing technology based on 16S rRNA gene in 11 samples collected from six different full-scale anaerobic digesters. Observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs) estimated from the archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences were 13-55 OTUs (3% cutoff) which was corresponded to 29-89% of Chao1 richness estimates. In the anaerobic digesters there were archaeal sequences within the orders Thermoproteales, Thermoplasmatales, Desulfurococcales as well as within the orders Methanomicrobiales, Methanobacteriales, Methanococcales, Methanosarcinales, and Methanocellales, which are known to produce methane. Among these orders, Methanococcales known to produce methane using hydrogen was the predominant taxon and constituted 51.8-99.7% of total sequences. All samples showed a very similar community structure (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.99) except for one sample based on a heat map analysis. In addition, canonical correspondence analysis correlating archaeal communities to the environmental variables demonstrated that digester temperature and total solids removal rate were the two important explanatory variables. Overall results suggested that environmental and operational variables of anaerobic digester are important factors determining archaeal diversity and community structure.