Functional Redundancy Enables Stable Treatment Performance Across Taxonomically Diverse Dairy Wastewater Microbiomes.
- 1Graduate Program in Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
- 2Graduate Program in Biotechnology (PPGBIOTEC), Universidade Tecnológica Federal Do Paraná (UTFPR), Dois Vizinhos, Brazil.
- 3Graduate Program in Computer Technologies for Agribusiness (PPGTCA), Universidade Tecnológica Federal Do Paraná (UTFPR), Medianeira, Brazil.
Abstract
Biological treatment of dairy wastewater depends on complex microbial communities that vary widely across reactors, influent sources and operating conditions. Whether stable treatment performance arises from conserved taxa or from redundancy in functional potential remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis and reprocessing of 239 samples from nine independent studies spanning six countries and multiple reactor configurations. Taxonomic profiles showed extreme heterogeneity, with no ASV detected in at least 50% of samples and most genera exhibiting strong study-specific patterns. In contrast, the predicted functional repertoire was highly conserved. PICRUSt2 analysis identified 196 MetaCyc pathways present in at least 90% of samples, and these pathways accounted for approximately 90% of total predicted functional abundance. Generalised linear latent variable models showed that temperature and pH created consistent but modest ecological gradients, while study- and reactor-level factors dominated community structure. Despite substantial taxonomic turnover, functional signatures associated with fermentation, biosynthesis, nitrogen cycling, and degradation of complex substrates remained stable across systems. Treatment-stage transitions also followed predictable metabolic trajectories. These results show that dairy wastewater treatment systems are taxonomically flexible but functionally robust, and that extensive redundancy supports consistent metabolic capacity across diverse operational and environmental contexts.
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BibTeX
@article{trentin2026functional,
title = {{Functional Redundancy Enables Stable Treatment Performance Across Taxonomically Diverse Dairy Wastewater Microbiomes.}},
author = {Alex Batista Trentin and Sara Letícia Stolfo Dos Santos and André Felipe Bendix and Laila Cristina Lopes and Thaís Fernandes Mendonça Mota and Samara Silva de Souza and Nédia de Castilhos Ghisi and Deborah Catharine De Assis Leite},
journal = {Environmental microbiology reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/1758-2229.70448},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901222},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Functional Redundancy Enables Stable Treatment Performance Across Taxonomically Diverse Dairy Wastewater Microbiomes.
AU - Alex Batista Trentin
AU - Sara Letícia Stolfo Dos Santos
AU - André Felipe Bendix
AU - Laila Cristina Lopes
AU - Thaís Fernandes Mendonça Mota
AU - Samara Silva de Souza
AU - Nédia de Castilhos Ghisi
AU - Deborah Catharine De Assis Leite
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Environmental microbiology reports
DO - 10.1111/1758-2229.70448
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901222
AB - Biological treatment of dairy wastewater depends on complex microbial communities that vary widely across reactors, influent sources and operating conditions. Whether stable treatment performance arises from conserved taxa or from redundancy in functional potential remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis and reprocessing of 239 samples from nine independent studies spanning six countries and multiple reactor configurations. Taxonomic profiles showed extreme heterogeneity, with no ASV detected in at least 50% of samples and most genera exhibiting strong study-specific patterns. In contrast, the predicted functional repertoire was highly conserved. PICRUSt2 analysis identified 196 MetaCyc pathways present in at least 90% of samples, and these pathways accounted for approximately 90% of total predicted functional abundance. Generalised linear latent variable models showed that temperature and pH created consistent but modest ecological gradients, while study- and reactor-level factors dominated community structure. Despite substantial taxonomic turnover, functional signatures associated with fermentation, biosynthesis, nitrogen cycling, and degradation of complex substrates remained stable across systems. Treatment-stage transitions also followed predictable metabolic trajectories. These results show that dairy wastewater treatment systems are taxonomically flexible but functionally robust, and that extensive redundancy supports consistent metabolic capacity across diverse operational and environmental contexts.
SN - 1758-2229
ER -