Construction and application of a mCherry fluorescent labeling system for Stenotrophomonas AGS-1 from aerobic granular sludge

Abstract To elucidate the specific mechanism by which high-attachment bacteria promote aerobic granular sludge (AGS) formation, a red fluorescent protein mCherry-based biomarker system was developed in the high-attachment strain Stenotrophomonas AGS-1 from AGS. The fluorescent labeling system used plasmid-mediated mCherry expression driven by a Ptac constitutive promoter. mCherry-labeled AGS-1 had normal unimpaired growth, strong fluorescent signals, and good fluorescence imaging. Also, the mCherry labeling system had no effect on the attachment ability of AGS-1. In addition, mCherry-labeled AGS-1 maintained high plasmid stability, even after more than 100 generations. Notably, after the addition of mCherry-labeled AGS-1 into the activated sludge system, the mCherry fluorescence of the sludge system can be used as a good reflection of the relative amount of AGS-1. Moreover, the spatial distribution of mCherry-labeled AGS-1 in the sludge system could be visualized and remained clear even after 5 days by fluorescence imaging. These results revealed that the mCherry-based biomarker system would provide a valuable tool for labeling AGS-1 to monitor the spatial distribution and fate of AGS-1 in AGS, which would help to better understand the mechanism of AGS formation and facilitate the development of AGS technology.