Restriction lift date: 2028-08-20
Temperature-dependent quorum sensing drives membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactor
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Date
2026-08-20
Authors
Wu, Hongwei
Yang, Kuo
Ikoyi, Isreal
Lin, Huimin
Yu, Pingfeng
Zhang, Bing
Wen, Xianghua
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier B.V.
Published Version
Abstract
Although extensive research has focused on membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs), the underlying mechanisms at low temperatures, particularly the role of quorum sensing (QS), remain inadequately elucidated. To address this, we investigated the responses of microbial communities and QS functionality to temperature gradients (10, 20, and 30 °C), and their respective impacts on the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in a lab-scale MBR, aiming to identify the key drivers of membrane biofouling. Our results demonstrated a significant intensification of biofouling at lower temperatures, with proteins in tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) identified as the primary foulants. At 10 °C, the microbial community exhibited a lower temporal turnover, a predominance of deterministic assembly processes, and a more stable and modular network, potentially facilitating the enrichment and colonization of fouling-related microorganisms. Metagenomics analysis demonstrated a notable increase of QS gene abundance, especially for c-di-GMP and DSF, at 10 °C, which correlated positively with EPS protein content. Crucially, variance partitioning analysis (VPA) identified QS as the primary driver of EPS variation in MBR, accounting for 9.94% of the total variance, surpassing the influence of biofouling-related biomarkers (5.98%) and the direct effect of temperature (0.17%). Collectively, these findings highlight that QS is a major driver of low-temperature biofouling, and emphasize microbial communication as a promising intervention target for effective membrane biofouling control strategies.
Description
Keywords
Biomarker , Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) , Membrane biofouling , Quorum sensing (QS) , Temperature , [BEES]
Citation
Wu, H, Yang, K, Ikoyi, I, Lin, H, Yu, P, Zhang, B & Wen, X 2026, 'Temperature-dependent quorum sensing drives membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactor', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 758, 126056, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2026.126056