Bug of the Month: Accumulibacter and Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal

At the time of this writing there are two main genera recognized to be responsible for the majority of enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Tetrasphaera, which is covered in a previous post, is an obligate PAO and has variable morphology potential including Nostocoida limicola filaments. Accumulibacter is featured in this month’s post. Currently the MiDAS field database recognizes 56 species of Accumulibacter, and a brief look into what we know about this genus greatly complicates our understanding of enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Conventional understandingUnder anaerobic conditions, PAOs convert volatile fatty acids  such as acetate or propionate to polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) compounds such as