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Edge TA, Baird DJ, Bilodeau G, Gagné N, Greer C, Konkin D, Newton G, Séguin A, Beaudette L, Bilkhu S, Bush A, Chen W, Comte J, Condie J, Crevecoeur S, El-Kayssi N, Emilson EJS, Fancy DL, Kandalaft I, Khan IUH, King I, Kreutzweiser D, Lapen D, Lawrence J, Lowe C, Lung O, Martineau C, Meier M, Ogden N, Paré D, Phillips L, Porter TM, Sachs J, Staley Z, Steeves R, Venier L, Veres T, Watson C, Watson S, Macklin J. The Ecobiomics project: Advancing metagenomics assessment of soil health and freshwater quality in Canada. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 710:135906. [PMID: 31926407 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Revised: 11/29/2019] [Accepted: 12/01/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Transformative advances in metagenomics are providing an unprecedented ability to characterize the enormous diversity of microorganisms and invertebrates sustaining soil health and water quality. These advances are enabling a better recognition of the ecological linkages between soil and water, and the biodiversity exchanges between these two reservoirs. They are also providing new perspectives for understanding microorganisms and invertebrates as part of interacting communities (i.e. microbiomes and zoobiomes), and considering plants, animals, and humans as holobionts comprised of their own cells as well as diverse microorganisms and invertebrates often acquired from soil and water. The Government of Canada's Genomics Research and Development Initiative (GRDI) launched the Ecobiomics Project to coordinate metagenomics capacity building across federal departments, and to apply metagenomics to better characterize microbial and invertebrate biodiversity for advancing environmental assessment, monitoring, and remediation activities. The Project has adopted standard methods for soil, water, and invertebrate sampling, collection and provenance of metadata, and nucleic acid extraction. High-throughput sequencing is located at a centralized sequencing facility. A centralized Bioinformatics Platform was established to enable a novel government-wide approach to harmonize metagenomics data collection, storage and bioinformatics analyses. Sixteen research projects were initiated under Soil Microbiome, Aquatic Microbiome, and Invertebrate Zoobiome Themes. Genomic observatories were established at long-term environmental monitoring sites for providing more comprehensive biodiversity reference points to assess environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas A Edge
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
| | - Donald J Baird
- Environment and Climate Change Canada @ Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
| | | | - Nellie Gagné
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
| | - Charles Greer
- National Research Council Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - David Konkin
- National Research Council Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Glen Newton
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Lee Beaudette
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Satpal Bilkhu
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Alexander Bush
- Environment and Climate Change Canada @ Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
| | - Wen Chen
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jérôme Comte
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada; Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Janet Condie
- National Research Council Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | | | | | - Erik J S Emilson
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
| | - Donna-Lee Fancy
- National Research Council Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Iyad Kandalaft
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Izhar U H Khan
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ian King
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - David Kreutzweiser
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
| | - David Lapen
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - John Lawrence
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Christine Lowe
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Oliver Lung
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
| | | | - Matthew Meier
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Nicholas Ogden
- Public Health Agency of Canada, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada
| | - David Paré
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Lori Phillips
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, Ontario, Canada
| | - Teresita M Porter
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada; Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Joel Sachs
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Zachery Staley
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
| | - Royce Steeves
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
| | - Lisa Venier
- Natural Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
| | - Teodor Veres
- National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Cynthia Watson
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
| | - Susan Watson
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
| | - James Macklin
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Oliver DM, Bird C, Burd E, Wyman M. Quantitative PCR Profiling of Escherichia coli in Livestock Feces Reveals Increased Population Resilience Relative to Culturable Counts under Temperature Extremes. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2016; 50:9497-9505. [PMID: 27454176 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.6b02657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The relationship between culturable counts (CFU) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) cell equivalent counts of Escherichia coli in dairy feces exposed to different environmental conditions and temperature extremes was investigated. Fecal samples were collected in summer and winter from dairy cowpats held under two treatments: field-exposed versus polytunnel-protected. A significant correlation in quantified E. coli was recorded between the qPCR and culture-based methods (r = 0.82). Evaluation of the persistence profiles of E. coli over time revealed no significant difference in the E. coli numbers determined as either CFU or gene copies during the summer for the field-exposed cowpats, whereas significantly higher counts were observed by qPCR for the polytunnel-protected cowpats, which were exposed to higher ambient temperatures. In winter, the qPCR returned significantly higher counts of E. coli for the field-exposed cowpats, thus representing a reversal of the findings from the summer sampling campaign. Results from this study suggest that with increasing time post-defecation and with the onset of challenging environmental conditions, such as extremes in temperature, culture-based counts begin to underestimate the true resilience of viable E. coli populations in livestock feces. This is important not only in the long term as the Earth changes in response to climate-change drivers but also in the short term during spells of extremely cold or hot weather.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Oliver
- Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, U.K
| | - Clare Bird
- School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute , Edinburgh EH9 3FE, U.K
| | - Emmy Burd
- Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, U.K
| | - Michael Wyman
- Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling , Stirling FK9 4LA, U.K
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