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Abstract
In many studies, Nitrobacter was thought to be the dominant nitrite oxidizer because it was commonly isolated from sludges and wastewater treatment systems. In this study, we used molecular biological methods to assess the diversity of Nitrobacter species rDNA. Neither PCR amplification nor hybridization using Nitrobacter specific probes yielded results indicating the presence of Nitrobacter in the R5 bioreactor. This corresponds with many recent studies indicating that Nitrobacter is low in numbers in many natural and engineered nitrifying environments. It appears that Nitrobacter species are not the major bacteria responsible for nitrification in the R5 bioreactor since we were not able to detect its presence in the bioreactor mixed culture.