Use of PCR-DGGE Based Molecular Methods to Analyse Microbial Community Diversity and Stability during the Thermophilic Stages of an ATAD Wastewater Sludge Treatment Process as an Aid to Performance Monitoring

Table 2

Detection of microbial diversity in ATAD sludge at different stages of ATAD treatment. PCR amplification using Archaea-, Eukarya-, Bacteria-, and Fungal-specific primers as listed in Table 1 was used.

Origin of the extracted DNA	PCR amplification with genera- and domain-specific primers
	Eukarya	Archaea	Bacteria	Fungi
Inlet type I (sewage)	+	+	+	+
Inlet type II (secondary sludge)	+	−	+	+
Thickened inlet sludge	+	+	+	+
Reactor 1A ATAD (2 hours of operation)	+	−	+	+
Reactor 1A ATAD (4 hours of operation)	−	−	+	+
Reactor 1A ATAD (16 hours of operation)	−	−	+	−
Rector 2A ATAD (4 hours of operation)	−	−	+	−
Reactor 2A ATAD (23 hours of operation)	−	−	+	−
Biosolids (9 days and storage)	+	−	+	+

Positive detection is indicated as (+) ve whereas lack of amplification is indicated as (−) ve.