Microbial Community Dynamics During Composting of Organic Matter as Determined by 16S Ribosomal DNA Analysis

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Abstract
A culture independent survey of the microbial community dynamics during the composting of organic waste in an industrial composting process was conducted by sequence analysis of (1) universal clone coding for small-subunit rRNA-genes libraries and, in parallel, with electrophoresis and sequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rDNA fragments based on DNA single strand-conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Samples were taken from a force aerated module composting system during a two week dynamic process. In addition, to examine the beginning maturation phase, one sample was taken from force-aerated compost piles. In the initial composting stage, where a starting temperature of 41°C was recorded, a number of Enterobacteriaceae and members of the genus Lactobacillus were still detected, while different members of the low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria formed the dominant fraction of the bacterial community during the hot composting phase with temperatures fluctuating between 55 and 70°C. During the initial curing phase, where temperature had declined to 50°C, the microbial community changed accompanied by an increasing number of sequences affiliated with the Bacteroides-Cytophaga-Flexibacter group. The combined results of 16S rRNA sequence analysis demonstrated that both approaches, cloning and SSCP, have their specific advantages and limitations, but both methods were capable to detect the predominating taxa and have proved useful for the analysis of microbial community successions during composting.