Wastewater treatment bacteria show differential preference for colonizing natural biopolymers.

Most reduced organic matter entering activated sludge systems is particulate (1-100-µm diameter) or colloidal (0.001-1-µm diameter), yet little is known about colonization of particulate organic matter by activated sludge bacteria. In this study, colonization of biopolymers (chitin, keratin, lignocellulose, lignin, and cellulose) by activated sludge bacteria was compared with colonization of glass beads in the presence and absence of regular nutrient amendment (acetate and ammonia). Scanning electron microscopy and quantitative PCR revealed chitin and cellulose were most readily colonized followed by lignin and lignocellulose, while keratin and glass beads were relatively resistant to colonization. Bacterial community profiles on particles compared to sludge confirmed that specific bacterial phylotypes preferentially colonize different biopolymers. Nitrifying bacteria proved adept at colonizing particles, achieving higher relative abundance on particles compared to bulk sludge. Denitrifying bacteria showed similar or lower relative abundance on particles compared to sludge. KEY POINTS: • Some activated sludge bacteria colonize natural biopolymers more readily than others. • Nitrifying bacteria are overrepresented in natural biopolymer biofilm communities. • Biopolymers in wastewater likely influence activated sludge community composition.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel acyclic and cyclic glyoxamide based derivatives as bacterial quorum sensing and biofilm inhibitors.

Bacteria regulate the expression of various virulence factors and processes such as biofilm formation through a chemically-mediated communication mechanism called quorum sensing. Bacterial biofilms contribute to antimicrobial resistance as they can protect bacteria embedded in their matrix from the effects of antibiotics. Thus, developing novel quorum sensing inhibitors, which can inhibit biofilm formation, is a viable strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance. We report herein the synthesis of novel acyclic and cyclic glyoxamide derivatives via ring-opening reactions of N-acylisatins. These compounds were evaluated for their quorum sensing inhibition activity against P. aeruginosa MH602 and E. coli MT102. Compounds 20, 21 and 30 displayed the greatest quorum sensing inhibition activity against P. aeruginosa MH602, with 71.5%, 71.5%, and 74% inhibition, respectively, at 250 µM. Compounds 18, 20 and 21 exhibited the greatest QSI activity against E. coli MT102, with 71.5%, 72.1% and 73.5% quorum sensing inhibition activity, respectively. In addition, the biofilm inhibition activity was also investigated against P. aeruginosa and E. coli at 250 µM. The glyoxamide compounds 16, 18 and 19 exhibited 71.2%, 66.9%, and 66.5% inhibition of P. aeruginosa biofilms, respectively; whereas compounds 12, 20, and 22 showed the greatest inhibitory activity against E. coli biofilms with 87.9%, 90.8% and 89.5%, respectively. Finally, the determination of the in vitro toxicity against human MRC-5 lung fibroblast cells revealed that these novel glyoxamide compounds are non-toxic to human cells.

Amphipathic guanidine-embedded glyoxamide-based peptidomimetics as novel antibacterial agents and biofilm disruptors.

Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria is becoming increasingly prevalent, posing a critical challenge to global health. Bacterial biofilm formation is a common resistance mechanism that reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics. Thus, the development of compounds that can disrupt bacterial biofilms is a potential strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance. We report herein the synthesis of amphipathic guanidine-embedded glyoxamide-based peptidomimetics via ring-opening reactions of N-naphthoylisatins with amines and amino acids. These compounds were investigated for their antibacterial activity by the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against S. aureus and E. coli. Compounds 35, 36, and 66 exhibited MIC values of 6, 8 and 10 µg mL-1 against S. aureus, respectively, while compounds 55 and 56 showed MIC values of 17 and 19 µg mL-1 against E. coli, respectively. Biofilm disruption and inhibition activities were also evaluated against various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The most active compound 65 exhibited the greatest disruption of established biofilms by 65% in S. aureus, 61% in P. aeruginosa, and 60% in S. marcescens respectively, at 250 µM concentration, while compound 52 inhibited the formation of biofilms by 72% in S. marcescens at 250 µM. We also report here the in vitro toxicity against MRC-5 human lung fibroblast cells. Finally, the pore forming capability of the three most potent compounds were tested using tethered bilayer lipid membrane (tBLM) technology.

Synthesis of antimicrobial glucosamides as bacterial quorum sensing mechanism inhibitors.

Bacteria communicate with one another and regulate their pathogenicity through a phenomenon known as quorum sensing (QS). When the bacterial colony reaches a threshold density, the QS system induces the production of virulence factors and the formation of biofilms, a powerful defence system against the host's immune responses. The glucosamine monomer has been shown to disrupt the bacterial QS system by inhibiting autoinducer (AI) signalling molecules such as the acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs). In this study, the synthesis of acetoxy-glucosamides 8, hydroxy-glucosamides 9 and 3-oxo-glucosamides 12 was performed via the 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC·HCl) and N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) coupling methods. All of the synthesized compounds were tested against two bacterial strains, P. aeruginosa MH602 (LasI/R-type QS) and E. coli MT102 (LuxI/R-type QS), for QS inhibitory activity. The most active compound 9b showed 79.1% QS inhibition against P. aeruginosa MH602 and 98.4% against E. coli MT102, while compound 12b showed 64.5% inhibition against P. aeruginosa MH602 and 88.1% against E. coli MT102 strain at 2mM concentration. The ability of the compounds to inhibit the production of the virulence factor pyocyanin and biofilm formation in the P. aeruginosa (PA14) strain was also examined. Finally, computational docking studies were performed with the LasR receptor protein.

Glutathione-Disrupted Biofilms of Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Exhibit an Enhanced Antibiotic Effect and a Novel Biofilm Transcriptome.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections result in high morbidity and mortality rates for individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF), with premature death often occurring. These infections are complicated by the formation of biofilms in the sputum. Antibiotic therapy is stymied by antibiotic resistance of the biofilm matrix, making novel antibiofilm strategies highly desirable. Within P. aeruginosa biofilms, the redox factor pyocyanin enhances biofilm integrity by intercalating with extracellular DNA. The antioxidant glutathione (GSH) reacts with pyocyanin, disrupting intercalation. This study investigated GSH disruption by assaying the physiological effects of GSH and DNase I on biofilms of clinical CF isolates grown in CF artificial sputum medium (ASMDM+). Confocal scanning laser microscopy showed that 2 mM GSH, alone or combined with DNase I, significantly disrupted immature (24-h) biofilms of Australian epidemic strain (AES) isogens AES-1R and AES-1M. GSH alone greatly disrupted mature (72-h) AES-1R biofilms, resulting in significant differential expression of 587 genes, as indicated by RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis. Upregulated systems included cyclic diguanylate and pyoverdine biosynthesis, the type VI secretion system, nitrate metabolism, and translational machinery. Biofilm disruption with GSH revealed a cellular physiology distinct from those of mature and dispersed biofilms. RNA-seq results were validated by biochemical and quantitative PCR assays. Biofilms of a range of CF isolates disrupted with GSH and DNase I were significantly more susceptible to ciprofloxacin, and increased antibiotic effectiveness was achieved by increasing the GSH concentration. This study demonstrated that GSH, alone or with DNase I, represents an effective antibiofilm treatment when combined with appropriate antibiotics, pending in vivo studies.

Isolation and characterization of Dehalobacter sp. strain UNSWDHB capable of chloroform and chlorinated ethane respiration.

Dehalobacter sp. strain UNSWDHB can dechlorinate up to 4 mM trichloromethane at a rate of 0.1 mM per day to dichloromethane and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1 mM, 0.1 mM per day) with the unprecedented product profile of 1,2-dichloroethane and vinyl chloride. 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 1,1-dichloroethane were slowly utilized by strain UNSWDHB and were not completely removed, with minimum threshold concentrations of 0.12 mM and 0.07 mM respectively under growth conditions. Enzyme kinetic experiments confirmed strong substrate affinity for trichloromethane and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (Km = 30 and 62 µM respectively) and poor substrate affinity for 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 1,1-dichloroethane (Km = 238 and 837 µM respectively). Comparison of enzyme kinetic and growth data with other trichloromethane respiring organisms (Dehalobacter sp. strain CF and Desulfitobacterium sp. strain PR) suggests an adaptation of strain UNSWDHB to trichloromethane. The trichloromethane RDase (TmrA) expressed by strain UNSWDHB was identified by BN-PAGE and functionally characterized. Amino acid comparison of homologous RDases from all three organisms revealed only six significant amino acid substitutions/deletions, which are likely to be crucial for substrate specificity. Furthermore, strain UNSWDHB was shown to grow without exogenous supply of cobalamin confirming genomic-based predictions of a fully functional cobalamin synthetic pathway.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of N-aryl-glyoxamide derivatives as structurally novel bacterial quorum sensing inhibitors.

Bacteria cooperatively regulate the expression of many phenotypes through a mechanism called quorum sensing (QS). Many Gram-negative bacteria use an N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated QS system to control biofilm formation and virulence factor production. In recent years, quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) have become attractive tools to overcome antimicrobial resistance exhibited by various pathogenic bacteria. In the present study, we report the design and synthesis of novel N-arylisatin-based glyoxamide derivatives via the ring-opening reaction of N-aryl isatins with cyclic and acylic amines, and amino acid esters. The QSI activity of the synthesized compounds was determined in the LasR-expressing Pseudomonas aeruginosa MH602 and LuxR-expressing Escherichia coli MT102 reporter strains. Compounds 31 and 32 exhibited the greatest QSI activity in P. aeruginosa MH602, with 48.7% and 42.7% reduction in QS activity at 250 µM, respectively, while compounds 31 and 34 showed 73.6% and 43.7% QSI activity in E. coli MT102. In addition, the ability of these compounds to inhibit the production of pyocyanin in P. aeruginosa (PA14) was also determined, with compound 28 showing 47% inhibition at 250 µM. Furthermore, computational docking studies were performed on the LasR receptor protein of P. aeruginosa, which showed that formation of a hydrogen bonding network played a major role in influencing the QS inhibitory activity. We envisage that these novel non-AHL glyoxamide derivatives could become a new tool for the study of QS and potentially for the treatment of bacterial infections.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of N-naphthoyl-phenylglyoxamide-based small molecular antimicrobial peptide mimics as novel antimicrobial agents and biofilm inhibitors.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a key component of the human immune system. Synthetic AMP mimics represent a novel strategy to counteract the increasing incidence of antimicrobial resistance. Here, we describe the synthesis of novel glyoxamide derivatives via ring-opening reactions of N-hexanoyl, N-benzoyl and N-naphthoylisatins with N,N-dimethylethane-1,2-diamine and N,N-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine. These were converted to both the hydrochloric acid (HCl) or quaternary ammonium iodide (MeI) salts and their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus was investigated by their zone-of-inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The HCl salt 22b exhibited the lowest MIC of 16 µg mL(-1), whereas the corresponding MeI salt 22c had a MIC of 39 µg mL(-1). We also investigated the in vitro toxicity of active compounds against the MRC-5 normal human lung fibroblasts and their activity against established biofilm in S. aureus.

Relative contributions of Dehalobacter and zerovalent iron in the degradation of chlorinated methanes.

The role of bacteria and zerovalent iron (Fe(0)) in the degradation of chlorinated solvents in subsurface environments is of interest to researchers and remediation practitioners alike. Fe(0) used in reactive iron barriers for groundwater remediation positively interacted with enrichment cultures containing Dehalobacter strains in the transformation of halogenated methanes. Chloroform transformation and dichloromethane formation was up to 8-fold faster and 14 times higher, respectively, when a Dehalobacter-containing enrichment culture was combined with Fe(0) compared with Fe(0) alone. The dichloromethane-fermenting culture transformed dichloromethane up to three times faster with Fe(0) compared to without. Compound-specific isotope analysis was employed to compare abiotic and biotic chloroform and dichloromethane degradation. The isotope enrichment factor for the abiotic chloroform/Fe(0) reaction was large at -29.4 ± 2.1‰, while that for chloroform respiration by Dehalobacter was minimal at -4.3 ± 0.45‰. The combined abiotic/biotic dechlorination was -8.3 ± 0.7‰, confirming the predominance of biotic dechlorination. The enrichment factor for dichloromethane fermentation was -15.5 ± 1.5‰; however, in the presence of Fe(0) the factor increased to -23.5 ± 2.1‰, suggesting multiple mechanisms were contributing to dichloromethane degradation. Together the results show that chlorinated methane-metabolizing organisms introduced into reactive iron barriers can have a significant impact on trichloromethane and dichloromethane degradation and that compound-specific isotope analysis can be employed to distinguish between the biotic and abiotic reactions involved.

Ecotoxicity of neutral red (dye) and its environmental applications.

Neutral red (NR) is a synthetic phenazine with promising prospect in environmental biotechnology as an electron shuttle. Recently, NR injections into coal seam associated groundwater in Australia (final dissolved NR concentration: 8 µM ± 0.2) were shown to increase methanogenesis up to ten-fold. However, information about NR toxicity to ecological receptors is sorely lacking. The main aim of this study was to investigate the concentration dependent toxicity of NR in microorganisms and plants. Acute toxicity of NR was determined by the modified Microtox™ assay. Microbial viability was determined using Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. Germination and early growth of plants was studied using Lactuca sativa, Daucus carota, Allium cepa and an Australian native Themeda triandra. Lastly, mutagenicity of the coal seam associated groundwater was assessed using the Ames test. The EC50 of acute NR toxicity was determined to be 0.11 mM. The EC50 of microbial viability was between 1 and 7.1mM NR. Among the concentrations tested, only 0.01, 0.10 and 100mM of NR significantly affected (p<0.001) germination of L. sativa. The EC50 for root elongation in seeds was between 1.2 and 35.5mM NR. Interestingly, root elongation in seeds was significantly stimulated (p<0.001) between 0.25 and 10mM NR, showing a hormetic effect. A significant increase in mutagenicity was only observed in one of the three wells tested. The results suggest that the average dissolved NR concentration (8 µM ± 0.2) deployed in the field trial at Lithgow State Coal Mine, Australia, appears not to negatively impact the ecological receptors tested in this study.

Changes in metabolites, antioxidant system, and gene expression in Microcystis aeruginosa under sodium chloride stress.

Microcystis (M.) aeruginosa, one of the most common bloom-forming cyanobacteria, occurs worldwide. The Qingcaosha (QCS) Reservoir is undergoing eutrophication and faces the problem of saltwater intrusion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sudden salinity changes on physiological parameters and related gene transcription in M. aeruginosa under controlled laboratory conditions. The results showed that sodium chloride (50, 200 and 500 mg L(-1) NaCl) inhibited the algal growth and decreased pigment concentrations (chlorophyll a, carotenoid and phycocyanin). Sodium chloride increased both the intracellular and extracellular microcystin contents and elevated the mcyD transcript level in M. aeruginosa. It also increased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content and caused cytomembrane damage. This damage caused the release of intracellular toxins into the culture medium. In addition, NaCl decreased the maximum electron transport rate, increased the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and changed the cellular redox status. Consequently, NaCl inhibited the expression of cpcB, psbA and rbcL. Furthermore, NaCl increased the activities of superoxide dismutases (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), and total glutathione peroxidase (GPx). The transcript levels of sod and reduced glutathione (gsh) were also increased after exposure to NaCl. Our results indicate that a sudden increase in salinity increases the production and excretion of microcystin, changes the cellular redox status, enhances the activities of antioxidant enzymes, inhibits photosynthesis, and affects transcript levels of related genes in M. aeruginosa.

Interface thermodynamic state-induced high-performance memristors.

A new class of memristors based on long-range-ordered CeO2 nanocubes with a controlled degree of self-assembly is presented, in which the regularity and range of the nanocubes can be greatly improved with a highly concentrated dispersed surfactant. The magnitudes of the hydrophobicity and surface energy components as functions of surfactant concentration were also investigated. The self-assembled nanostructure was found to demonstrate excellent degradation in device threshold voltage with excellent uniformity in resistive switching parameters, particularly a set voltage distribution of ∼ 0.2 V over 30 successive cycles and a fast response time for writing (0.2 µs) and erasing (1 µs) operations, thus offering great potential for nonvolatile memory applications with high performance at low cost.

Metal(loid) bioaccessibility dictates microbial community composition in acid sulfate soil horizons and sulfidic drain sediments.

Microbial community compositions were determined for three soil horizons and drain sediments within an anthropogenically disturbed coastal acid sulfate landscape using 16S rRNA gene tagged 454 pyrosequencing. Diversity analyses were problematic due to the high microbiological heterogeneity between each geochemical replicate. Taxonomic analyses combined with measurements of metal(loid) bioaccessibility identified significant correlations to genera (5% phylogenetic distance) abundances. A number of positive correlations between genera abundance and bioaccessible metals concentrations were observed, indicating that metal(loid) tolerance influences microbial community compositions in these types of landscapes. Of note, Mn was highly bioaccessible (≤ 24% total soil Mn); and Mn bioaccessibility positively correlated to Acidobacterium abundance, but negatively correlated to Holophaga abundance. Two unidentified archaeal genera belonging to Crenarchaeota were also correlated to bioaccessible Mn concentrations, suggesting these genera can exploit Mn redox chemistry.

Surface analysis reveals biogenic oxidation of sub-bituminous coal by Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Direct analysis of the colonised surface on coal using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) revealed the nature of bacteria-mediated oxidation at the coal surface. Unique oxidation peaks generated by the presence of Pseudomonas fluorescens on coal was shown through ATR-FTIR measurements, and ATR-FTIR imaging illustrated that this peak was only observed within the region of coal colonised by bacteria. Contact angle measurements and surface free energy of adhesion calculations showed that the adhesion between P. fluorescens and coal was thermodynamically favourable, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibited individual cell or monolayer cluster attachment on coal. Furthermore, Gaussian peak fitting of peroxidase-treated coal ATR-FTIR spectra revealed that peroxidase or related enzymes produced by P. fluorescens may be responsible for coal oxidation. This study demonstrated the usefulness and practicality of ATR-FTIR for analysing coal oxidation by P. fluorescens and may well be applied to other microbe-driven modifications of coal for its rapidity and reliability.

Ascorbic acid modulates the structure of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence factor pyocyanin and ascorbic acid-furanone-30 combination facilitate biofilm disruption.

The production of pyocyanin by Pseudomonas aeruginosa increases its virulence, fitness and biofilm formation. Pyocyanin is also a redox molecule and we hypothesize that ascorbic acid being an antioxidant will interact with pyocyanin. The main objective of this study was to investigate the potential interaction of ascorbic acid with pyocyanin, and also to investigate the impact of ascorbic acid in combination with Furanone-30 on quorum sensing and biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa. When incubated with ascorbic acid, hyperchromic and hypsochromic shifts in pyocyanin absorbance peaks at 385 nm and 695 nm were observed. In the presence of dehydroascorbic acid and citric acid, these shifts were absent, indicating that the intrinsic antioxidant property of ascorbic acid was probably essential in binding to pyocyanin. NMR spectroscopy showed shifts in 1H NMR pyocyanin peaks between 8.2 to 5.8 ppm when incubated in the presence of ascorbic acid. Density Functional Theory (DFT) supported potential interactions between the -CH2OH or -OH moieties of ascorbic acid with the -C=O moiety of pyocyanin. The pyocyanin-ascorbic acid complex impaired pyocyanin binding to DNA. Ascorbic acid combined with furanone-30 elevated quorum-sensing inhibition in P. aeruginosa, which was directly associated with significantly reduced P. aeruginosa virulence, adhesion, aggregation and biofilm formation and enhanced antibiotic-mediated bacterial killing. This study demonstrated that the antioxidant ascorbic acid directly binds to pyocyanin, modulates its structure and results in disruption of biofilm formation and associated tolerance to antibiotics.

Complete chloroform dechlorination by organochlorine respiration and fermentation.

Chloroform (CF, CHCl(3)) is a recalcitrant and toxic environmental pollutant. In this communication we report for the first time a microbial community capable of complete CF dechlorination by metabolic processes. Cultures derived from subsurface soil (3.5 m) could sustain complete dechlorination of CF at levels of least 360 µM at a rate of 40 µM per day. Scrutiny of CF dechlorination revealed two metabolic processes at work. First, CF was respired to dichloromethane (DCM, CH(2) Cl(2)), which was then fermented to acetate, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Elevated hydrogen partial pressures were found to inhibit the fermentation process. Interspecies hydrogen transfer was observed in the form of methanogenesis and acetogenesis. This suggests that the dechlorination process required syntrophic partners to maintain low hydrogen partial pressures. (13)C-labelled DCM was employed to help elucidate the chemistry of the process and identify bacterial community members involved. CF respiring cultures, where emulsified vegetable oil was supplied as the electron donor and DCM fermenting cultures, where DCM was supplied as the sole organic carbon source were studied separately. Pyrosequencing of these cultures revealed Dehalobacter lineages as a predominant community member in both. Subsequent growth experiments confirmed that the proliferation of Dehalobacter was linked directly to both the dehalorespiration and dehalofermentation processes.

Capillary electrophoresis ribosomal RNA single-stranded conformation polymorphism: a new approach for characterization of low-diversity microbial communities.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has been the principle system for nucleic acid analysis since the early 1990s due to its inherent advantages such as fast analysis time, high resolution and efficiency, minimal sample requirement, high detection sensitivity, and automation. In the past few decades, microbial community fingerprinting methods such as terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) have migrated to CE to utilize its advantages over conventional slab gel electrophoresis. Recently, a gel-based direct rRNA fingerprint method was demonstrated. Different from other existing microbial community characterization approaches, this novel approach is polymerase chain reaction free and capable of providing information on the relative abundance of rRNA from individual phylotypes in low-diversity samples. As a gel-based method, it has a long analysis time and relatively large reagent and sample requirements. Here, we addressed these limitations by transferring the RNA fingerprint approach to the CE platform. Analysis time significantly improved from 24 h to 60 min, and the use of a fluorescently labeled hybridization probe as the detection strategy decreased the sample requirement by ten-fold. The combination of fast analysis time, low sample requirement, and sensitive fluorescence detection makes CE-RNA-SSCP an appealing new approach for characterizing low-diversity microbial communities.

Direct rRNA fingerprinting, a novel method to profile low diversity microbial communities.

In the past decade, an increasing number of methods in microbial ecology have been developed that address the questions of which microbes exist in the environment, what their roles are and, to some extent, what their abundance is. In the present paper, we propose and describe the proof of principle of a novel method for analysing shifts in microbial community composition that uses small RNA fragments directly derived from 16S rRNA. Community fingerprints are generated on the basis of sequence-dependent conformational differences of rRNA fragments. We applied this method to profile artificial and natural communities and to detect changes in community structure in enrichment cultures. This method constitutes a PCR-free alternative to microbial community characterisation and can provide information on the relative abundance of rRNA from individual phylotypes in low diversity samples.

Identification of ciliate grazers of autotrophic bacteria in ammonia-oxidizing activated sludge by RNA stable isotope probing.

It is well understood that protozoa play a major role in controlling bacterial biomass and regulating nutrient cycling in the environment. Little is known, however, about the movement of carbon from specific reduced substrates, through functional groups of bacteria, to particular clades of protozoa. In this study we first identified the active protozoan phylotypes present in activated sludge, via the construction of an rRNA-derived eukaryote clone library. Most of the sequences identified belonged to ciliates of the subclass Peritrichia and amoebae, confirming the dominance of surface-associated protozoa in the activated sludge environment. We then demonstrated that (13)C-labeled protozoan RNA can be retrieved from activated sludge amended with (13)C-labeled protozoa or (13)C-labeled Escherichia coli cells by using an RNA stable isotope probing (RNA-SIP) approach. Finally, we used RNA-SIP to track carbon from bicarbonate and acetate into protozoa under ammonia-oxidizing and denitrifying conditions, respectively. RNA-SIP analysis revealed that the peritrich ciliate Epistylis galea dominated the acquisition of carbon from bacteria with access to CO(2) under ammonia-oxidizing conditions, while there was no evidence of specific grazing on acetate consumers under denitrifying conditions.