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Low-substrate nitrogen drives functional succession toward a cooperative Candidatus Brocadia consortium in anammox systems.

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Title: Low-substrate nitrogen drives functional succession toward a cooperative Candidatus Brocadia consortium in anammox systems.
Authors: Zhang S; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China., Lv H; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China., Cui B; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China. Electronic address: cuibin5676@163.com., Zhou D; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.
Source: Bioresource technology [Bioresour Technol] 2026 Nov; Vol. 459, pp. 135206. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 20.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Language: English
Journal Info: Publisher: Elsevier Applied Science Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9889523 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-2976 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09608524 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Bioresour Technol Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Original Publication: Barking, Essex, England : New York, N.Y. : Elsevier Applied Science ; Elsevier Science Pub. Co., 1991-
MeSH Terms: Nitrogen*/metabolism , Nitrogen*/pharmacology , Bacteria*/metabolism , Bacteria*/genetics , Microbial Consortia* , Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidation*, Bioreactors/microbiology ; Oxidation-Reduction
Abstract: Mainstream anammox treatment is promising but limited by slow acclimation and unstable performance under low nitrogen. Community succession is often observed, but it is usually explained by kinetic differences among anammox bacteria, which cannot fully account for competitive outcomes. Here, we operated an anammox biofilter under sustained low‑nitrogen stress and combined metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, co‑occurrence networks, and SMETANA to identify ecological adaptation mechanisms. During early acclimation, Ca. Kuenenia reduced the expression of costly biosynthetic pathways, including aromatic amino acid synthesis by 25.6%-38.8%. In contrast, Ca. Brocadia showed broad transcriptional activation, with anammox genes upregulated by ∼18-fold. During long-term operation, the community shifted to a multispecies Ca. Brocadia assemblage characterized by complementary model-inferred auxotrophies, stronger positive associations around the dominant Brocadia species (68.0%), and lower predicted metabolic resource overlap than that observed in the high-nitrogen system (0.66 ± 0.12 vs. 0.77 ± 0.10). Ultimately, Ca. Brocadia replaced Ca. Kuenenia as the dominant functional lineage, increasing from 1.0% to 44.7% in relative abundance and contributing 71.5% of total transcriptional activity. These findings suggest that low-nitrogen stress favors a metabolically complementary and potentially cooperative Ca. Brocadia assemblage rather than a single superior competitor, offering ecological guidance for stabilizing anammox processes in low-strength wastewater.
(Copyright © 2026 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Anammox; Cooperative guild; Cross-feeding; Low‑nitrogen stress; Metabolic divergence; Microbial succession
Substance Nomenclature: N762921K75 (Nitrogen)
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20260620 Date Completed: 20260821 Latest Revision: 20260821
Update Code: 20260821
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2026.135206
PMID: 42323145
Database: MEDLINE
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  Data: Low-substrate nitrogen drives functional succession toward a cooperative Candidatus Brocadia consortium in anammox systems.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Zhang+S%22">Zhang S</searchLink>; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Lv+H%22">Lv H</searchLink>; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Cui+B%22">Cui B</searchLink>; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China. Electronic address: cuibin5676@163.com.<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AU" term="%22Zhou+D%22">Zhou D</searchLink>; Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Treatment and Green Development of Polluted Water in Northeast China, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%229889523%22">Bioresource technology</searchLink> [Bioresour Technol] 2026 Nov; Vol. 459, pp. 135206. <i>Date of Electronic Publication: </i>2026 Jun 20.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Nitrogen%22">Nitrogen*</searchLink>/<searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Nitrogen+metabolism%22">metabolism</searchLink> <br /><searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Nitrogen%22">Nitrogen*</searchLink>/<searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Nitrogen+pharmacology%22">pharmacology</searchLink> <br /><searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Bacteria%22">Bacteria*</searchLink>/<searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Bacteria+metabolism%22">metabolism</searchLink> <br /><searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Bacteria%22">Bacteria*</searchLink>/<searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Bacteria+genetics%22">genetics</searchLink> <br /><searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Microbial+Consortia%22">Microbial Consortia*</searchLink> <br /><searchLink fieldCode="MM" term="%22Anaerobic+Ammonia+Oxidation%22">Anaerobic Ammonia Oxidation*</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="MH" term="%22Bioreactors%22">Bioreactors</searchLink>/<searchLink fieldCode="MH" term="%22Bioreactors+microbiology%22">microbiology</searchLink> ; <searchLink fieldCode="MH" term="%22Oxidation-Reduction%22">Oxidation-Reduction</searchLink>
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  Data: Mainstream anammox treatment is promising but limited by slow acclimation and unstable performance under low nitrogen. Community succession is often observed, but it is usually explained by kinetic differences among anammox bacteria, which cannot fully account for competitive outcomes. Here, we operated an anammox biofilter under sustained low‑nitrogen stress and combined metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, co‑occurrence networks, and SMETANA to identify ecological adaptation mechanisms. During early acclimation, Ca. Kuenenia reduced the expression of costly biosynthetic pathways, including aromatic amino acid synthesis by 25.6%-38.8%. In contrast, Ca. Brocadia showed broad transcriptional activation, with anammox genes upregulated by ∼18-fold. During long-term operation, the community shifted to a multispecies Ca. Brocadia assemblage characterized by complementary model-inferred auxotrophies, stronger positive associations around the dominant Brocadia species (68.0%), and lower predicted metabolic resource overlap than that observed in the high-nitrogen system (0.66 ± 0.12 vs. 0.77 ± 0.10). Ultimately, Ca. Brocadia replaced Ca. Kuenenia as the dominant functional lineage, increasing from 1.0% to 44.7% in relative abundance and contributing 71.5% of total transcriptional activity. These findings suggest that low-nitrogen stress favors a metabolically complementary and potentially cooperative Ca. Brocadia assemblage rather than a single superior competitor, offering ecological guidance for stabilizing anammox processes in low-strength wastewater.<br /> (Copyright © 2026 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
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  Data: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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  Data: <i>Keywords: </i>Anammox; Cooperative guild; Cross-feeding; Low‑nitrogen stress; Metabolic divergence; Microbial succession
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        Text: English
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        StartPage: 135206
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      – SubjectFull: Bioreactors microbiology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Oxidation-Reduction
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