Thesis of Rakia Chouari

2003 dec.

" Exploration of the microbial diversity in wastewater processing using activated sludge "
  Rakia Chouari supported his thesis on December the 12th in Evry. His research was carried out in the “Cloca maxima” team led by Denis Le Paslier (mail) and Abdelghani Sghir (mail).

  It is now well established that many phylum of microorganisms within Bacteria and Archaea domains remain completely unknown in their diversity, their genome and their physiology. In order to better characterise this diversity extent, we performed a large scale phlogenetic study of the microflora present in activated sludge processes.
  The phylogenetic analysis of more than 4000 16S rDNA sequences showed that almost 90% of these sequences represent novel taxonomic units. It also allowed the characterisation of many new phylogenetic lineages and candidate divisions. Moreover, this analysis enabled us to develop new molecular tools (PCR primers and probes) in order to better describe and quantify this diversity. Anaerobic cultures have also been initiated to cultivate some of these microorganisms.