This study aimed at understanding how bacterial communities fluctuate and correlate with wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) efficiency over a ten-month period. Illumina sequencing of 16 s rRNA gene variable regions was performed on genomic DNA extracted from aeration tank samples collected twice a week and analyzed using the Bioinformatics Tool Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology 2 (QIIME2). This was done in order to track and relate changes in the bacterial community in the aeration tank to the performance of the plant. The results revealed that the most dominant bacterial phyla present in the aeration tank were Proteobacteria (15 %–40 % of total sequences in all samples), and Bacteroidetes (14 %–41 %) followed by Planctomycetes (2 %–23 %), Patescibacteria (2 %–13 %), Chloroflexi (3 %–12 %), and Nitrospirae (1 %–9 %). Beta analysis revealed clear shifts in the bacterial communities with an overall cyclic pattern that correlated well with the month of the year the aeration tank samples were collected through which samples clustered in groups with samples taken in the same month clustering closer together. Planctomycetes and Bacteroidetes were enriched during the colder, while Chloroflexi and Nitrospirae were enriched during the warmer months. Lastly, it was also found that the efficiency of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonia-N removals were significantly correlated (P < 0.05) with the occurrence of Bdellovibrio bacterial genus and members of Hydrogenophilaceae, respectively. This study is the first to provide this level of temporal resolution on bacterial community fluctuations in a full scale WWTP in the UAE.

这项研究旨在了解细菌群落如何在十个月的时间内波动并与废水处理厂（WWTP）效率相关联。从每周收集两次的曝气池样品中提取的基因组DNA进行16 s rRNA基因可变区的Illumina测序，并使用生物信息学工具《微生物生态学2（QIIME2）》进行定量分析。这样做是为了跟踪曝气池中细菌群落的变化并将其与植物的性能联系起来。结果表明，曝气池中存在的最主要细菌菌群是Proteobacteria（所有样品中占总序列的15％–40％），Bacteroidetes（14％–41％），其次是Planctomycetes（2％–23％），Patescibacteria（2％-13％），绿弯菌门（3％-12％），和硝化螺旋菌门（1％-9％）。Beta分析揭示了细菌群落的明显变化，其总体循环模式与收集曝气池样品的当月月份密切相关，通过曝气池样品，样品被分组聚集，同月采集的样本聚集在一起。在较冷的时候，扁平菌和拟杆菌的含量较高，而在较温暖的月份，绿藻和硝化菌的含量较高。最后，还发现，生物需氧量（BOD）的效率和氨氮的去除率与生物需氧量的发生显着相关（P <0.05）。Bdellovibrio细菌属和嗜氢菌科成员。这项研究是第一个为阿联酋全面污水处理厂中细菌群落波动提供这种水平的时间分辨率的研究。