Analysis of Total Bacteria, Enteric Members of γ-proteobacteria and Microbial Communities in Seawater as Indirect Indicators for Quantifying Biofouling

• Published in: Environmental engineering research Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 19 - 25
• Main Authors: Lee, Jin-Wook, Kim, Sung-Min, Jung, Ji-Yeon, Oh, Byung-Soo, Kim, In S, Hong, Soon-Kang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Biofouling; Membrane; Biomass; Microbial community; Seawater
• ISSN: 1226-1025; 2005-968X

In this study, total bacteria, enteric members of the $\gamma$-proteobacteria, and microbial communities in seawater were analyzed as indirect indicators for quantifying biofouling. Biomass in seawater can significantly affect feed water pretreatment and membrane biofouling of reverse osmosis desalination processes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate microbiological quantity and quality of seawater at the potential intake of a desalination plant. For this analysis, the total direct cell count (TDC) using 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)-staining and DNA-based real-time PCR were used to quantify the total bacteria and relative content of enteric members of $\gamma$-proteobacteria in seawater, respectively. In addition, microbial communities were examined using 16S rRNA gene cloning and bacterial isolation to identify the most abundant bacteria for a further biofouling study. The experimental results of this study identified about $10^6$ cells/mL of (total) bacteria, $10^5$ 16S rRNA gene copies/mL of enteric $\gamma$-proteobacteria, and the presence of more than 20 groups of bacteria.