Temperature-dependent quorum sensing drives membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactor

Simple item page
dc.check.date2028-08-20
dc.contributor.authorWu, Hongwei
dc.contributor.authorYang, Kuo
dc.contributor.authorIkoyi, Isreal
dc.contributor.authorLin, Huimin
dc.contributor.authorYu, Pingfeng
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Bing
dc.contributor.authorWen, Xianghua
dc.contributor.funderNational Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
dc.contributor.funderFundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
dc.date.accessioned2026-10-13T11:09:02Z
dc.date.available2026-10-13T11:09:02Z
dc.date.issued2026-08-20
dc.description.abstractAlthough 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.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Natural Science Foundation of China|Grant No. 52470062
dc.description.sponsorshipFundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities|Grant No. 2024QNYL14
dc.description.versionAccepted Version
dc.format.extent13
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid126056
dc.identifier.authororcidWu, Hongwei
dc.identifier.authororcidYang, Kuo
dc.identifier.authororcidIkoyi, Isreal§0000-0002-4728-3998
dc.identifier.authororcidLin, Huimin
dc.identifier.authororcidYu, Pingfeng
dc.identifier.authororcidZhang, Bing
dc.identifier.authororcidWen, Xianghua
dc.identifier.citationWu, 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
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.memsci.2026.126056
dc.identifier.endpage13
dc.identifier.issn0376-7388
dc.identifier.journaltitleJournal of Membrane Science
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-4728-3998/work/229913230
dc.identifier.startpage1
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19431
dc.identifier.volume758
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier B.V.
dc.relation.urihttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105048725957
dc.rights© 2026, Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
dc.rights.accessrightsembargoed access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectBiomarker
dc.subjectExtracellular polymeric substances (EPS)
dc.subjectMembrane biofouling
dc.subjectQuorum sensing (QS)
dc.subjectTemperature
dc.subject[BEES]
dc.titleTemperature-dependent quorum sensing drives membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactoren
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
MEMSCI-D-26-01209_Accepted_Version.pdf
Size:
2.45 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Accepted Version
Collections
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences