1. Wprowadzenie. 2. Polimery zewnątrzkomórkowe. 2.1. Charakterystyka EPS z wykorzystaniem nowoczesnych technik mikroskopowych. 2.2. Analiza składu białek zewnątrzkomórkowych z wykorzystaniem technik i SDS-PAGE. 3. Charakterystyka granul. 3.1. Charakterystyka kanałów i porów z wykorzystaniem techniki CLSM. 3.2. Dystrybucja mikropopulacji w granuli z   wykorzystaniem mikroskopii fluorescencyjnej. 3.3. Dystrybucja mikro-populacji w granuli z wykorzystaniem techniki PCR-DGGE. 4. Podsumowanie

Abstract: The aerobic granular activated sludge process is a promising technology for compact wastewater treatment plants. This system is superior to conventional activated sludge processes in terms of high biomass retention, high conversion capacity, less biomass production, excellent settleabilty and resistance to inhibitory and toxic compounds. The majority of research on granular sludge has focused on optimization of engineering aspects related to reactor operation with little emphasis on fundamental microbiology. The combination of physico-chemical characteristics of granular sludge and the new microbiological methods may provide conceptual information benefiting start-up procedures for full-scale granular-sludge reactors. This article presents a short review of microbiological fingerprinting techniques such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), SDS-PAGE or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and other techniques such as transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM, SEM) or confocal microscopy (CLSM) to give additional information about the structure and bacterial composition of granules.

1. Introduction. 2. Extracellular polymeric substances. 2.1. Characterization of EPS by new microscopic techniques. 2.2. Analysis of exoprotein composition by SDS-PAGE technique. 3.  Characterization of granules. 3.1. Characterization of canales and pores by CLSM. 3.2. Distribution of micro-population in granule by +uorescent microscopy. 3.3. Distribution of micro-population in granule by PCR-DGGE technique. 4. Summary