The effect of organic loading on bacterial community composition of membrane biofilms was investigated using a submerged polyvinyl chloride membrane bioreactor. The low and high loadings were set at 0.33 and 0.52 gCOD/(gVSS d), respectively. The results showed that membrane fouling occurred earlier and faster under the high loading conditions. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that the similarity of bacterial community in the membrane biofilms between the two loadings was 0.67, higher than that in the mixed liquors (0.52-0.55), which indicated that some specific bacteria were selected preferentially on the membranes. Clone library analysis of the membrane biofilms indicated that Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes under the high loading were 54.72% and 19.81%, respectively. Microarray results further confirmed that the two bacteria were the dominant microorganisms in the high loading biofilm. The severe membrane fouling may be aroused mainly by the enrichment of the two bacteria under the high loading. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.