There is significant potential for employing algae in tertiary wastewater treatment, however, little is known about the contribution of algae-bacteria synergy toward treatment performance. This study demonstrates potential synergy in the treatment of three winery wastewater samples. Two strains of green algae, Auxenochlorella protothecoides and Chlorella sorokiniana were tested and each removed > 90% of nitrogen, > 50% of phosphate, and 100% of acetic acid in the wastewater. Both algae strains grew significantly faster on wastewaters compared to growth on minimal media. Organic carbon in the wastewater apparently played a limited role in algal growth enhancement. When cultured on sterile-filtered wastewater, A. protothecoides increased soluble COD loadings in two of the three wastewaters and C. sorokiniana secreted an insoluble film. Culturing algae with the native wastewater microbial community negated the secretion of algal photosynthate, allowing for simultaneous reductions in COD and nutrient concentrations. Both algae species stimulated bacterial growth in a strain-specific way, suggesting unique responses to algal photosynthate. Cofactor auxotrophy for thiamine, cobalamin, and biotin is widespread among algae and these cofactors are typically obtained from bacteria. Sequencing the wastewater microbial community revealed bacteria capable of synthesizing all three cofactors while liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (LCMS) and bio-assays revealed the presence of thiamine metabolites in the wastewaters. These cofactors likely increased algal growth rates, particularly for A. protothecoides, which cannot synthesize thiamine de-novo but can salvage it from degradation products. Collectively, these results demonstrate that bacteria and algae provided synergistic growth benefits, potentially contributing to higher levels of wastewater treatment than either organism type alone.

在第三级废水处理中使用藻类具有巨大潜力，但是，关于藻类细菌协同作用对处理性能的贡献知之甚少。这项研究证明了在处理三个酿酒厂废水样品中的潜在协同作用。测试了两个绿藻菌株，即原藻小球藻和小球藻，分别去除了废水中> 90％的氮，> 50％的磷酸盐和100％的乙酸。与在基本培养基上的生长相比，两种藻类在废水上的生长都快得多。废水中的有机碳显然在促进藻类生长方面起着有限的作用。在无菌过滤的废水中培养时，A。protothecoides三种废水和梭状芽胞杆菌中的两种的可溶性COD含量增加分泌出不溶的薄膜 用原生废水微生物群落培养藻类可消除藻类光合产物的分泌，从而可同时减少COD和营养物浓度。两种藻类均以菌株特异性方式刺激细菌生长，表明对藻类光合产物的独特反应。硫胺素，钴胺素和生物素的辅因子营养缺陷在藻类中广泛存在，这些辅因子通常从细菌中获得。对废水微生物群落进行测序后，发现细菌能够合成所有三个辅助因子，而液相色谱-质谱（LCMS）和生物测定法则显示了废水中存在硫胺素代谢物。这些辅助因子可能会增加藻类的生长速度，特别是对于原球藻而言，它不能合成新型的硫胺素，但可以从降解产物中挽救它。总的来说，这些结果表明细菌和藻类提供了协同的生长益处，与单独使用任何一种生物类型相比，潜在地有助于更高水平的废水处理。