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Yan P, Zhu J, Ji Q, Hou G, Liang G, Liu X, Liu R. Significant impact of bleaching treatment on phage-host interaction dynamics in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant. Sci Rep 2025; 15:19165. [PMID: 40450127 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-04743-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2025] [Accepted: 05/28/2025] [Indexed: 06/03/2025] Open
Abstract
The temporal dynamics of phage-host interactions within full-scale biological wastewater treatment (BWT) plants remain inadequately characterized. Here, we provide an in-depth investigation of viral and bacterial dynamics over a nine-year period in an activated sludge BWT plant, where bleach addition was applied to control sludge foaming. By conducting bioinformatic analyses on 98 metagenomic time-series samples, we reconstructed 3,486 bacterial genomes and 2,435 complete or near-complete viral genomes, which were classified into 361 bacterial and 889 viral clusters, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the primary bleaching event induced significant shifts in both bacterial and viral communities, as well as in virus-host interactions, as evidenced by alterations in bacteria-virus interaction networks and virus-to-host ratio dynamics. Following bleaching, the bacteria-virus network became less interconnected but more compartmentalized. Viral communities mirrored bacterial dynamics, indicating a strong coupling in phage-host interactions. Among the identified virus-host pairs, many exhibited a decelerating rise in viral abundance relative to host abundance, with virus-to-host ratios generally displaying a negative correlation with host abundance. This trend was particularly pronounced in virus-host pairs where viruses harbored integrase genes, indicative of temperate dynamics resembling a "Piggyback-the-Winner" model. Notably, the bleaching intervention appeared to induce a transition from lysogeny to lysis in viruses associated with some foaming-related bacterial species, suggesting a potential virus-involved indirect mechanism by which bleaching mitigates sludge foaming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peihan Yan
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Yanqihu East Rd, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Junge Zhu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Qianwei Ji
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Yanqihu East Rd, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Gaolin Hou
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Yanqihu East Rd, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Guoqiang Liang
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Yanqihu East Rd, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Xinchun Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Yanqihu East Rd, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China
| | - Ruyin Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 Yanqihu East Rd, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China.
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2
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Chu Y, Dong X, Fang S, Gan L, Lee X, Zhou L. Viruses in human-impacted estuarine ecotones: Distribution, metabolic potential, and environmental risks. WATER RESEARCH 2025; 282:123750. [PMID: 40328153 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2025.123750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2025] [Revised: 04/03/2025] [Accepted: 04/29/2025] [Indexed: 05/08/2025]
Abstract
Estuaries, as dynamic ecological interfaces between marine and terrestrial systems, are characterized by high productivity and intricate microbial communities. Viruses exert critical regulatory effects on microbial processes, influencing ecological functions and contributing to environmental dynamics in estuarine ecosystems. Despite their significance, the diversity and ecological roles of estuarine viruses remain insufficiently understood. This study explored the viral biogeographic patterns, metabolic potential, and influencing factors in 30 subtropical estuaries in China. Few estuarine viruses (< 22 %) exhibited homology with known viruses, and the low overlap of virus clusters with other environments highlights their novelty and habitat specificity. Mantel tests and random forest analysis identified salinity, temperature, nutrients, and pollutants as key factors influencing viral composition and functional profiles. In addition, correlation analysis between virus and host confirmed significant virus-host interactions, while functional analyses highlighted the role of environmental conditions and horizontal gene transfer in shaping auxiliary metabolic genes linked to elemental biogeochemical cycles, particularly phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogen. The detection of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors (VFs) within viral genomes underscores the role of viruses as reservoirs of ARGs and VFs in these ecosystems. These results demonstrate the profound influence of abiotic and host factors on viral community structures in subtropical estuarine ecotones and underscore the ecological significance of metabolic genes in biogeochemical cycling. By clarifying these interactions, this study advances the understanding of viral contributions to ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical dynamics in estuarine environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunmeng Chu
- University Joint Laboratory of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Region on Marine Bioresource Conservation and Exploitation, College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Xiaoxiao Dong
- National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Shiyun Fang
- University Joint Laboratory of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Region on Marine Bioresource Conservation and Exploitation, College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
| | - Lihong Gan
- University Joint Laboratory of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Region on Marine Bioresource Conservation and Exploitation, College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
| | - Xuezhu Lee
- University Joint Laboratory of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Region on Marine Bioresource Conservation and Exploitation, College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
| | - Lei Zhou
- University Joint Laboratory of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Region on Marine Bioresource Conservation and Exploitation, College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
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Yao J, Zeng Y, Hong X, Wang M, Zhang Q, Chen Y, Gou M, Xia ZY, Tang YQ. Phages-bacteria interactions underlying the dynamics of polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing mixed microbial cultures via meta-omics study. mSystems 2025; 10:e0020025. [PMID: 40152616 PMCID: PMC12013262 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00200-25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2025] [Accepted: 02/26/2025] [Indexed: 03/29/2025] Open
Abstract
The dynamics of the structure of polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing mixed microbial cultures (PHA-MMCs) during enrichment and maintenance is an unsolved problem. The effect of phages has been proposed as a cause of dynamic changes in community structure, but evidence is lacking. To address this question, five PHA-MMCs were enriched, and biological samples were sampled temporally to study the interactions between phage and bacterial members by combining metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. A total of 963 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and 4,294 phage operational taxonomic units (pOTUs) were assembled from bulk metagenomic data. The dynamic changes in the structure of phage and bacterial communities were remarkably consistent. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that phages could infect and lyse dominant species to vacate ecological niches for other species, resulting in a community succession state in which dominant species alternated. Seven key auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), phaC, fadJ, acs, ackA, phbB, acdAB, and fadD, potentially contributing to PHA synthesis were identified from phage sequences. Importantly, these AMGs were transcribed, indicating that they were in an active expression state. The meta-analysis provides the first catalog of phages in PHA-MMCs and the AMGs they carry, as well as how they affect the dynamic changes in bacterial communities. This study provides a reference for subsequent studies on understanding and regulating the microbial community structure of open microbial systems.IMPORTANCEThe synthesis of biodegradable plastic PHA from organic waste through mixed microbial cultures (PHA-MMCs), at extremely low cost, has the potential for expanded production. However, the dynamics of dominant species in PHA-MMCs are poorly understood. Our results demonstrate for the first time the impact of phages on the structure of bacterial communities in the PHA-MMCs. There are complex interactions between the PHA producers (e.g., Azomonas, Paracoccus, and Thauera) and phages (e.g., Casadabanvirus and unclassified Hendrixvirinae). Phage communities can regulate the activity and structure of bacterial communities. In addition, the AMGs related to PHA synthesis may hitchhike during phage-host infection cycles, enabling their dissemination across bacterial communities, and phages may act as a critical genetic reservoir for bacterial members, facilitating access to PHA synthesis-related functional traits. This study highlights the impact of phages on bacterial community structure, suggesting that phages have the potential to be used as a tool for better controlling the microbial community structure of PHA-MMCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Yao
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, , Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Yan Zeng
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, , Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Xia Hong
- Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China
| | - Meng Wang
- Sinopec (Dalian) Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals Co. Ltd., Dalian, Liaoning, China
| | - Quan Zhang
- Sinopec (Dalian) Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals Co. Ltd., Dalian, Liaoning, China
| | - Yating Chen
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Min Gou
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, , Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Engineering Research Centre of Alternative Energy Materials and Devices, Ministry of Education, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Zi-Yuan Xia
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, , Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Yue-Qin Tang
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, , Chengdu, Sichuan, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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4
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Li Z, Liu B, Cao B, Cun S, Liu R, Liu X. The potential role of viruses in antibiotic resistance gene dissemination in activated sludge viromes. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2025; 486:137046. [PMID: 39752831 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.137046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2024] [Revised: 12/12/2024] [Accepted: 12/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2025]
Abstract
The dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in activated sludge (AS) systems poses significant environmental and public health challenges. The role of viruses, primarily bacteriophages, in storing and spreading ARGs in AS systems remains largely unexplored. This study characterized the viral community, virus-associated ARGs (vir_ARGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) of aerobic AS viromes from eight wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in eastern China. 78,604 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) were identified, including 1685 temperate vOTUs (T-vOTUs). Five ARG types were detected in 37 vOTUs, indicating a low proportion of ARG-carrying viruses. The co-occurrence rate between vir_ARGs and MGEs was 37.83 %, and six ARG-carrying vOTUs contained multiple MGEs, indicating a transfer potential of vir_ARGs. Additionally, ARG and MGE profiles of AS metagenomes were analyzed to evaluate the transfer potential of phage activity on ARGs. The results showed that phage-associated MGEs showed a significant coupling with both the abundance and composition of ARGs, suggesting a potential role of phages in ARG propagation. These findings offer preliminary insights into understanding the viral resistome and its transfer potential in AS systems. Future research necessitates rigorous pure culture and molecular biology experiments to elucidate the precise mechanisms through which viruses contribute to the dissemination and persistence of ARGs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zong Li
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Bingxin Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Bing Cao
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Shujuan Cun
- BaoShan City inspection and testing Institute, Baoshan 678000, China
| | - Ruyin Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xinchun Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
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5
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You J, Ye L, Zhang S, Zhao J, Zhao Y, He Y, Chen J, Kennes C, Chen D. Electrode functional microorganisms in bioelectrochemical systems and its regulation: A review. Biotechnol Adv 2025; 79:108521. [PMID: 39814087 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2025.108521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 12/03/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2025] [Indexed: 01/18/2025]
Abstract
Bioelectrochemical systems (BES) as environmental remediation biotechnologies have boomed in the last two decades. Although BESs combined technologies with electro-chemistry, -biology, and -physics, microorganisms and biofilms remain at their core. In this review, various functional microorganisms in BESs for CO2 reduction, dehalogenation, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate reduction, metal removal, and volatile organic compound oxidation are summarized and compared in detail. Moreover, interrelationship regulation approaches for functional microorganisms and methods for electroactive biofilm development, such as targeted electrode surface modification, chemical treatment, physical revealing, biological optimization, and genetic programming are pointed out. This review provides promising guidance and suggestions for the selection of microbial inoculants and provides an analysis of the role of individual microorganisms in mixed microbial communities and its metabolisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juping You
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pullution control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China; Key Laboratory of Pollution Exposure and Health Intervention of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou 312028, China
| | - Lei Ye
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pullution control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
| | - Shihan Zhang
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
| | - Jingkai Zhao
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
| | - Yan Zhao
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pullution control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
| | - Yaxue He
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pullution control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
| | - Jianmeng Chen
- School of Environment and Natural Resources, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Christian Kennes
- Chemical Engineering Laboratory and Center for Advance Scientific Research (CICA), Faculty of Sciences, Universidade da Coruña, Spain
| | - Dongzhi Chen
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pullution control for Port-Petrochemical Industry, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China.
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6
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Weinheimer AR, Ha AD, Aylward FO. Towards a unifying phylogenomic framework for tailed phages. PLoS Genet 2025; 21:e1011595. [PMID: 39908317 PMCID: PMC11835377 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2024] [Revised: 02/18/2025] [Accepted: 01/28/2025] [Indexed: 02/07/2025] Open
Abstract
Classifying viruses systematically has remained a key challenge of virology due to the absence of universal genes and vast genetic diversity of viruses. In particular, the most dominant and diverse group of viruses, the tailed double-stranded DNA viruses of prokaryotes belonging to the class Caudoviricetes, lack sufficient similarity in the genetic machinery that unifies them to reconstruct an inclusive, stable phylogeny of these genes. While previous approaches to organize tailed phage diversity have managed to distinguish various taxonomic levels, these methods are limited in scalability, reproducibility, and the inclusion of modes of evolution, like gene gains and losses, remain key challenges. Here, we present a novel, comprehensive, and reproducible framework for examining evolutionary relationships of tailed phages. In this framework, we compare phage genomes based on the presence and absence of a fixed set of gene families which are used as binary trait data that is input into maximum likelihood models. Our resulting phylogeny stably recovers known taxonomic families of tailed phages, with and without the inclusion of metagenome-derived phages. We also quantify the mosaicism of replication and structural genes among known families, and our results suggest that these exchanges likely underpin the emergence of new families. Additionally, we apply this framework to large phages (>100 kilobases) to map emergences of traits associated with genome expansion. Taken together, this evolutionary framework for charting and organizing tailed phage diversity improves the systemization of phage taxonomy, which can unify phage studies and advance our understanding of their evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alaina R. Weinheimer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech; Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, Maine, United States of America
| | - Anh D. Ha
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech; Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Frank O. Aylward
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech; Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-Borne Infectious Disease, Virginia Tech; Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
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7
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Zhang N, Zhu D, Yao Z, Zhu DZ. Virus-prokaryote interactions assist pollutant removal in constructed wetlands. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2025; 416:131791. [PMID: 39528031 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.131791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2024] [Revised: 11/06/2024] [Accepted: 11/07/2024] [Indexed: 11/16/2024]
Abstract
As a vital part of microbial communities, viruses in constructed wetlands (CWs) remain poorly explored, yet they could significantly affect pollutant removal. Here, two pilot-scale CWs were built to investigate the viral community under different hydraulic loading rates (HLRs) using in-depth metagenomic analysis. Gene-sharing networks suggested that the CWs were pools of unexplored viruses. A higher abundance of prokaryotic functional genes related to sulfur cycling and denitrification was observed in the higher HLR condition, which was associated with greater removal of total nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen compared to the lower HLR condition. Viruses also affect nitrogen pollutant removal by potentially infecting functional prokaryotes, such as denitrification bacteria and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, and by providing auxiliary metabolic genes involved in sulfur and nitrogen cycling. These findings reveal the significance of viruses in pollutant removal in CWs and enhance the understanding of the relationship between engineering design parameters and performance from microbial perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Zhang
- School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and GeographyScience, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; Institute of Ocean Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
| | - Dong Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Urban Environment Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
| | - Zhiyuan Yao
- School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and GeographyScience, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; Institute of Ocean Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
| | - David Z Zhu
- School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and GeographyScience, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; Institute of Ocean Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
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8
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Li J, Sun Y, Zhang Q, Liu S, Liu P, Zhang XX. Unveiling the potential role of virus-encoded polyphosphate kinases in enhancing phosphorus removal in activated sludge systems. WATER RESEARCH 2025; 268:122678. [PMID: 39476778 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2024] [Revised: 10/10/2024] [Accepted: 10/20/2024] [Indexed: 12/19/2024]
Abstract
While microbial phosphate removal in activated sludge (AS) systems has been extensively studied, the role of viruses in this process remains largely unexplored. In this study, we identified 149 viral auxiliary metabolic genes associated with phosphorus cycling from 2,510 viral contigs (VCs) derived from AS systems. Notably, polyphosphate kinase 1 (ppk1) and polyphosphate kinase 2 (ppk2) genes, which are primarily responsible for phosphate removal, were found in five unclassified VCs. These genes exhibited conserved protein structures and active catalytic sites, indicating a pivotal role of viruses in enhancing phosphorus removal. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a close relationship between viral ppk genes and their bacterial counterparts, suggesting the occurrence of horizontal gene transfer. Furthermore, experimental assays validated that viral ppk genes enhanced host phosphate removal capabilities. VCs carrying ppk genes were observed across diverse ecological and geographical contexts, suggesting their potential to bolster host functions in varied environmental and nutrient settings, spanning natural and engineered systems. These findings uncover a previously underappreciated mechanism by which viruses enhance phosphate removal in wastewater treatment plants. Overall, our study highlights the potential for leveraging virus-encoded genes to improve the efficiency of biological phosphorus removal processes, offering new insights into the microbial ecology of AS systems and the role of viruses in biogeochemical cycling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Li
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Yuchen Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Qifeng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Shengnan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Peng Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
| | - Xu-Xiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
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9
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Zeng Y, Zhong X, Chen Y, Gou M, Yu K, Tang YQ. Characteristics of Phages and Their Interactions With Hosts in Anaerobic Reactors. Environ Microbiol 2025; 27:e70040. [PMID: 39868667 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.70040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2024] [Revised: 12/18/2024] [Accepted: 01/03/2025] [Indexed: 01/28/2025]
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes relies on the interaction and cooperation of various microorganisms. Phages are crucial components of the microbial community in AD systems, but their diversity and interactions with the prokaryotic populations are still inadequately comprehended. In this study, 2121 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) were recovered from 12 anaerobic fatty acid-fed reactors. Notably, 63.1% of these vOTUs could not be assigned to any known family, revealing a substantial presence of uncharted phages specifically associated with AD environments. Over half of the vOTUs associated with hosts had the capability to infect multiple hosts, ranging from 2 to 49, with a prevalent tendency to infect 2-5 hosts. In silico predictions of phage-host linkages uncovered that only a small fraction of vOTUs were shared across different functional groups, including fermentative bacteria, syntrophic fatty acid-oxidising bacteria (SFOB) and methanogens. Phages linked to hosts in all three groups primarily consisted of generalists and temperate species, especially those linked to SFOB. Additionally, metabolic reconstruction identified auxiliary metabolic genes participating in fatty acid degradation, methanogenesis and energy conservation. The present study provides insights into phage characteristics and their in situ interactions with prokaryotic hosts, highlighting their ecological role in AD systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Zeng
- Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaozhong Zhong
- College of Life Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan, China
| | - Yating Chen
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, China
- Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Min Gou
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, China
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Ke Yu
- Eco-Environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yue-Qin Tang
- Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Sichuan Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Organic Wastes Valorization, Chengdu, China
- College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Engineering Research Centre of Alternative Energy Materials and Devices, Ministry of Education, Chengdu, China
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10
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Zhang Y, Xue B, Mao Y, Chen X, Yan W, Wang Y, Wang Y, Liu L, Yu J, Zhang X, Chao S, Topp E, Zheng W, Zhang T. High-throughput single-cell sequencing of activated sludge microbiome. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ECOTECHNOLOGY 2025; 23:100493. [PMID: 39430728 PMCID: PMC11490935 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2024] [Revised: 09/11/2024] [Accepted: 09/11/2024] [Indexed: 10/22/2024]
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) represent one of biotechnology's largest and most critical applications, playing a pivotal role in environmental protection and public health. In WWTPs, activated sludge (AS) plays a major role in removing contaminants and pathogens from wastewater. While metagenomics has advanced our understanding of microbial communities, it still faces challenges in revealing the genomic heterogeneity of cells, uncovering the microbial dark matter, and establishing precise links between genetic elements and their host cells as a bulk method. These issues could be largely resolved by single-cell sequencing, which can offer unprecedented resolution to show the unique genetic information. Here we show the high-throughput single-cell sequencing to the AS microbiome. The single-amplified genomes (SAGs) of 15,110 individual cells were clustered into 2,454 SAG bins. We find that 27.5% of the genomes in the AS microbial community represent potential novel species, highlighting the presence of microbial dark matter. Furthermore, we identified 1,137 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), 10,450 plasmid fragments, and 1,343 phage contigs, with shared plasmid and phage groups broadly distributed among hosts, indicating a high frequency of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) within the AS microbiome. Complementary analysis using 1,529 metagenome-assembled genomes from the AS samples allowed for the taxonomic classification of 98 SAG bins, which were previously unclassified. Our study establishes the feasibility of single-cell sequencing in characterizing the AS microbiome, providing novel insights into its ecological dynamics, and deepening our understanding of HGT processes, particularly those involving ARGs. Additionally, this valuable tool could monitor the distribution, spread, and pathogenic hosts of ARGs both within AS environments and between AS and other environments, which will ultimately contribute to developing a health risk evaluation system for diverse environments within a One Health framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulin Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
| | - Bingjie Xue
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
- School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518071, Guangdong, China
| | - Yanping Mao
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518071, Guangdong, China
| | - Xi Chen
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
| | - Weifu Yan
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
| | - Yanren Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
| | - Yulin Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
| | - Lei Liu
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
| | - Jiale Yu
- MobiDrop (Zhejiang) Company Limited, Jiaxing, 314000, Zhejiang, China
| | - Xiaojin Zhang
- MobiDrop (Zhejiang) Company Limited, Jiaxing, 314000, Zhejiang, China
| | - Shan Chao
- MobiDrop (Zhejiang) Company Limited, Jiaxing, 314000, Zhejiang, China
| | - Edward Topp
- Agroecology Research unit, Bourgogne Franche-Comté Research Centre, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, 35000, France
| | - Wenshan Zheng
- MobiDrop (Zhejiang) Company Limited, Jiaxing, 314000, Zhejiang, China
| | - Tong Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
- School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, 999077, China
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11
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Zhang Y, Zheng X, Yan W, Wang D, Chen X, Wang Y, Zhang T. Method evaluation for viruses in activated sludge: Concentration, sequencing, and identification. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 955:176886. [PMID: 39419205 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2024] [Revised: 10/09/2024] [Accepted: 10/10/2024] [Indexed: 10/19/2024]
Abstract
Activated sludge (AS) in wastewater treatment plants is one of the largest artificial microbial ecosystems on earth and it makes enormous contributions to human societies. Viruses are an important component in AS with a high abundance. However, their communities and functionalities have not been as widely explored as those of other microorganisms, such as bacteria. This gap is mainly due to technical challenges in effective viral concentration, extraction, and sequencing. In this study, we compared four kinds of concentration methods, two sequencing approaches, and four identification bioinformatic tools to evaluate the whole analysis workflow for viruses in AS. Results showed flocculation, filtration, and resuspension (FFR) could get the longest DNA lengths and ultracentrifugation obtained the highest DNA yields for viruses in AS. Based on the results of present study, FFR and tangential flow filtration with the membrane pore size of 100 kDa were most recommended to concentrate viruses in AS samples with huge volumes. Besides, different concentration methods could get different viral catalogs and thus multiple methods should be combined to get the whole picture of viruses in the system. In addition, geNomad was the most recommended identification tool for viruses in the present study and the long-read sequencing could improve the assembly statistics of viruses when compared with the short-read sequencing. For the 8192 viral operational taxonomic units in this study, 95.1 % of them were phages and belonged to the same lineage at the order level of Caudovirales. Virulent phages dominated the AS system and Pseudomonadota were the main host. Taken together, this study provides new insights into methods selection for virus research of AS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulin Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Xiawan Zheng
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Weifu Yan
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Dou Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Xi Chen
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Yulin Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Tong Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Road, Hong Kong, China; School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China; Macau Institute of Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao.
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12
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Zang B, Zhou H, Zhao Y, Sano D, Chen R. Investigating potential auxiliary anaerobic digestion activity of phage under polyvinyl chloride microplastic stress. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2024; 480:135950. [PMID: 39326145 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2024] [Revised: 08/18/2024] [Accepted: 09/23/2024] [Indexed: 09/28/2024]
Abstract
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastics present in sewage were trapped in sludge, thereby hindering anaerobic digestion performance of waste active sludge (WAS). Phages regulate virocell metabolism by encoding auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) related to energy acquisition and material degradation, supporting hosts survive in harsh environments and play a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles. This study investigated the potential effects of phages on the recovery of WAS anaerobic digestion under PVC stress. We observed a significant alteration in the phage community induced by PVC microplastics. Phages encoded AMGs related to anaerobic digestion and cell growth probably alleviate PVC microplastics inhibition on WAS anaerobic digestion, and 54.2 % of hydrolysis-related GHs and 40.8 % of acidification-related AMGs were actively transcribed in the PVC-exposed group. Additionally, the degradation of chitin and peptidoglycan during hydrolysis and the conversion of glucose to pyruvate during acidification were more susceptible to phages. Prediction of phage-host relationship indicated that the phyla Pseudomonadota were predominantly targeted hosts by hydrolysis-related and acidification-related phages, and PVC toxicity had minimal impact on phage-host interaction. Our findings highlight the importance of phages in anaerobic digestion and provide a novel strategy for using phages in the functional recovery of microplastic-exposed sludge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bei Zang
- Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China
| | - Hang Zhou
- Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China
| | - Yubin Zhao
- Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China
| | - Daisuke Sano
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan
| | - Rong Chen
- Key Lab of Environmental Engineering, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China; International S&T Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China.
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13
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Zhu D, Liu SY, Sun MM, Yi XY, Duan GL, Ye M, Gillings MR, Zhu YG. Adaptive expression of phage auxiliary metabolic genes in paddy soils and their contribution toward global carbon sequestration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2419798121. [PMID: 39602267 PMCID: PMC11626168 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2419798121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2024] [Accepted: 10/21/2024] [Indexed: 11/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Habitats with intermittent flooding, such as paddy soils, are crucial reservoirs in the global carbon pool; however, the effect of phage-host interactions on the biogeochemical cycling of carbon in paddy soils remains unclear. Hence, this study applied multiomics and global datasets integrated with validation experiments to investigate phage-host community interactions and the potential of phages to impact carbon sequestration in paddy soils. The results demonstrated that paddy soil phages harbor a diverse and abundant repertoire of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) associated with carbon fixation, comprising 23.7% of the identified AMGs. The successful annotation of protein structures and promoters further suggested an elevated expression potential of these genes within their bacterial hosts. Moreover, environmental stressors, such as heavy metal contamination, cause genetic variation in paddy phages and up-regulate the expression of carbon fixation AMGs, as demonstrated by the significant enrichment of related metabolites (P < 0.05). Notably, the findings indicate that lysogenic phages infecting carbon-fixing hosts increased by 10.7% under heavy metal stress. In addition, in situ isotopic labeling experiments induced by mitomycin-C revealed that by increasing heavy metal concentrations, 13CO2 emissions from the treatment with added lysogenic phage decreased by approximately 17.9%. In contrast, 13C-labeled microbial biomass carbon content increased by an average of 35.4% compared to the control. These results suggest that paddy soil phages prominently influence the global carbon cycle, particularly under global change conditions. This research enhances our understanding of phage-host cooperation in driving carbon sequestration in paddy soils amid evolving environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen361021, People’s Republic of China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, Chinese Academy of Sciences Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo315830, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shu-Yue Liu
- National Engineering Research Center for Soil Nutrient Management and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing210008, People’s Republic of China
| | - Ming-Ming Sun
- Soil Ecology Laboratory, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing210095, People’s Republic of China
| | - Xing-Yun Yi
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100085, People’s Republic of China
| | - Gui-Lan Duan
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100085, People’s Republic of China
| | - Mao Ye
- National Engineering Research Center for Soil Nutrient Management and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing210008, People’s Republic of China
| | - Michael R. Gillings
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
| | - Yong-Guan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100085, People’s Republic of China
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14
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Zhao Y, Fan L, Gao SH, Huang F, Lei Z, Wang W, Gao R, Dai Z, Li Q, Liang B, Wang A. Strain-level multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria in urban wastewater treatment plants: Transmission, source tracking and evolution. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 267:122538. [PMID: 39357157 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2024] [Revised: 09/23/2024] [Accepted: 09/26/2024] [Indexed: 10/04/2024]
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) serve as reservoirs for various pathogens and play a pivotal role in safeguarding environmental safety and public health by mitigating pathogen release. Pathogenic bacteria, known for their potential to cause fatal infections, present a significant and emerging threat to global health and remain poorly understood regarding their origins and transmission in the environment. Using metagenomic approaches, we identified a total of 299 pathogens from three full-scale WWTPs. We comprehensively elucidated the occurrence, dissemination, and source tracking of the pathogens across the WWTPs, addressing deficiencies in traditional detection strategies. While indicator pathogens in current wastewater treatment systems such as Escherichia coli are effectively removed, specific drug-resistant pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, and Aeromonas caviae, persist throughout the treatment process, challenging complete eradication efforts. The anoxic section plays a predominant role in controlling abundance but significantly contributes to downstream pathogen diversity. Additionally, evolution throughout the treatment process enhances pathogen diversity, except for upstream transmission, such as A. caviae str. WP8-S18-ESBL-04 and P. aeruginosa PAO1. Our findings highlight the necessity of expanding current biomonitoring indicators for wastewater treatment to optimize treatment strategies and mitigate the potential health risks posed by emerging pathogens. By addressing these research priorities, we can effectively mitigate risks and safeguard environmental safety and public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanmei Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Lu Fan
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
| | - Shu-Hong Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China.
| | - Fang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
| | - Zelin Lei
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China
| | - Wenxiu Wang
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China
| | - Rui Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
| | - Zihan Dai
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Qian Li
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Bin Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Aijie Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China.
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15
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Gao FZ, Hu LX, Liu YS, Qiao LK, Chen ZY, Su JQ, He LY, Bai H, Zhu YG, Ying GG. Unveiling the overlooked small-sized microbiome in river ecosystems. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 265:122302. [PMID: 39178591 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2024] [Revised: 08/12/2024] [Accepted: 08/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/26/2024]
Abstract
Enriching microorganisms using a 0.22-μm pore size is a general pretreatment procedure in river microbiome research. However, it remains unclear the extent to which this method loses microbiome information. Here, we conducted a comparative metagenomics-based study on microbiomes with sizes over 0.22 μm (large-sized) and between 0.22 μm and 0.1 μm (small-sized) in a subtropical river. Although the absolute concentration of small-sized microbiome was about two orders of magnitude lower than that of large-sized microbiome, sequencing only large-sized microbiome resulted in a significant loss of microbiome diversity. Specifically, the microbial community was different between two sizes, and 347 genera were only detected in small-sized microbiome. Small-sized microbiome had much more diverse viral community than large-sized fraction. The viruses had abundant ecological functions and were hosted by 825 species of 169 families, including pathogen-related families. Small-sized microbiome had distinct antimicrobial resistance risks from large-sized microbiome, showing an enrichment of eight antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) types as well as the detection of 140 unique ARG subtypes and five enriched risk rank I ARGs. Draft genomes of five major resistant pathogens having diverse ecological and pollutant-degrading functions were only assembled in small-sized microbiome. These findings provide novel insights into river ecosystems, and highlight the overlooked small-sized microbiome in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang-Zhou Gao
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - Li-Xin Hu
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - You-Sheng Liu
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lu-Kai Qiao
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zi-Yin Chen
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jian-Qiang Su
- Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China
| | - Liang-Ying He
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hong Bai
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yong-Guan Zhu
- Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China
| | - Guang-Guo Ying
- SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical, Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou, China.
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16
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Tang A, Zhang J, Huang J, Deng Y, Wang D, Yu P, Zhao R, Wang Y, Chen Z, Zhang T, Li B. Decrypting the viral community in aerobic activated sludge reactors treating antibiotic production wastewater. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 265:122253. [PMID: 39167968 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2024] [Revised: 07/31/2024] [Accepted: 08/10/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Viruses are the most abundant yet understudied members that may influence microbial metabolism in activated sludge treating antibiotic production wastewater. This study comprehensively investigated virome community characteristics under the selection pressure of nine types and different concentrations of antibiotics using a metagenomics approach. Of the 15,514 total viral operational taxonomic units (tOTUs) recovered, only 37.5 % were annotated. Antibiotics altered the original viral community structure in activated sludge. The proportion of some pathogenic viral families, including Herpesviridae_like, increased significantly in reactors treating erythromycin production wastewater. In total, 16.5 % of the tOTUs were associated with two or more hosts. tOTUs rarely carried antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and the ARG types in the tOTUs did not match the ARGs carried by the bacterial hosts. This suggests that transduction contributes little to the horizontal ARG transfer. Auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were prevalent in tOTUs, and those involved in folate biosynthesis were particularly abundant, indicating their potential to mitigate antibiotic-induced host damage. This study provides comprehensive insights into the virome community in activated sludge treating antibiotic production wastewater and sheds light on the potential role of viral AMGs in mitigating antibiotic-induced stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aixi Tang
- Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Jiayu Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Jin Huang
- Shenzhen Environmental Science and New Energy Laboratory, Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Tsinghua University, China
| | - Yu Deng
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Dou Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Pingfeng Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Renxin Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China; School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
| | - Yulin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao 266000, China
| | - Zihan Chen
- Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Tong Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Bing Li
- Key Laboratory of Microorganism Application and Risk Control, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China.
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17
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Yuan L, Yu P, Huang X, Zhao Z, Chen L, Ju F. Seasonal succession, host associations, and biochemical roles of aquatic viruses in a eutrophic lake plagued by cyanobacterial blooms. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2024; 193:109125. [PMID: 39547087 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.109125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2024] [Revised: 10/31/2024] [Accepted: 11/04/2024] [Indexed: 11/17/2024]
Abstract
Viruses are implicated to play key roles as biogeochemical mediators and ecological drivers in freshwater ecosystems. However, the dynamics of viruses and host associations throughout the seasons and during blooming periods in eutrophic freshwater ecosystems remain poorly understood. From the water microbiomes of planktonic biomass from Lake Taihu, a large eutrophic freshwater lake in China that experiences annual Microcystis-dominated harmful algal blooms (HABs), we recovered 41,997 unique viral clusters spanning a wide taxonomic range, including 15,139 Caudovirales clusters targeting bacteria and 1,044 NCLDV clusters targeting eukaryotes. The viral community exhibited clear seasonal succession, driven primarily by microbial communities (particularly Cyanobacteria and Planctomycetes) and environmental factors (mainly nutrients and temperature). Host prediction revealed that viral infection had a more distinct impact on bacteria-driven nitrogen pathways than on phosphate cycling. HAB-induced variations in microbial composition and environmental conditions affected viral strategies including viral lifestyles, host range, and virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (vAMGs) distributions. Viruses infecting Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria showed an enhanced lysogenic lifestyle and a narrower host range during HAB peak in summer, while viruses infecting Bacteroidota adopted an opposite strategy. Notably, vAMGs were most abundant before the HAB outbreak in spring, compensating for bacterial metabolic processes of their hosts such as carbohydrates metabolism, photosynthesis, and phosphate regulation. The findings highlight the intricate relationships between viruses, host microbes, and the bloom-associated environment, underscoring the important biochemical roles viruses play in eutrophic freshwater ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ling Yuan
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Pingfeng Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Xinyu Huang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Ze Zhao
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Linxing Chen
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Berkeley 94720, CA, USA
| | - Feng Ju
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China; Center for Infectious Disease Research, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China; Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang Province, China; Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, Zhejiang Province, China.
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18
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Zhang Q, Ji XM, Wang X, Wang W, Xu X, Zhang Q, Xing D, Ren N, Lee DJ, Chen C. Differentiation of the Anammox core microbiome: Unraveling the evolutionary impetus of scalable gene flow. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 268:122580. [PMID: 39383807 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Revised: 09/27/2024] [Accepted: 10/04/2024] [Indexed: 10/11/2024]
Abstract
Anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria (AAOB), distinguished by their unique autotrophic nitrogen metabolism, hold pivotal positions in the global nitrogen cycle and environmental biotechnologies. However, the ecophysiology and evolution of AAOB remain poorly understood, attributed to the absence of monocultures. Hence, a comprehensive elucidation of the AAOB-dominated core microbiome, anammox core, is imperative to further completing the theory of engineered nitrogen removal and ecological roles of anammox. Performing taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses on collected genome repertoires, we show here that Candidatus Brocadia and Candidatus Kuenenia possesses a more compact core than Candidatus Jettenia, which partly explains why the latter has a less common ecological presence. Evidence of gene flow is particularly striking in functions related to biosynthesis and oxygen detoxification, underscoring the evolutionary forces driving lineage and core differentiation. Furthermore, CRISPR spacer traceback of the AAOB metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) reveals a series of genetic traces for the concealed phages. By reconceptualizing the functional divergence of AAOB with the historical role of phages, we ultimately propose a coevolutionary framework to understand the evolutionary trajectory of anammox microecology. The discoveries provided in this study offer new insights into understanding the evolution of AAOB and the ecology of anammox.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China
| | - Xiao-Ming Ji
- College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, PR China
| | - Xueting Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China
| | - Wei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China
| | - Xijun Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China
| | - Qi Zhang
- College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, PR China; College of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, PR China
| | - Defeng Xing
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China
| | - Nanqi Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China
| | - Duu-Jong Lee
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong; Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, Chung-li 32003, Taiwan
| | - Chuan Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China.
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19
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Du Y, Zuo W, Sun F. Imputing Metagenomic Hi-C Contacts Facilitates the Integrative Contig Binning Through Constrained Random Walk with Restart. J Comput Biol 2024; 31:1008-1021. [PMID: 39246231 DOI: 10.1089/cmb.2024.0663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Metagenomic Hi-C (metaHi-C) has shown remarkable potential for retrieving high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes from complex microbial communities. Nevertheless, existing metaHi-C-based contig binning methods solely rely on Hi-C interactions between contigs, disregarding crucial biological information such as the presence of single-copy marker genes. To overcome this limitation, we introduce ImputeCC, an integrative contig binning tool optimized for metaHi-C datasets. ImputeCC integrates both Hi-C interactions and the discriminative power of single-copy marker genes to group marker-gene-containing contigs into preliminary bins. It also introduces a novel constrained random walk with restart algorithm to enhance Hi-C connectivity among contigs. Comprehensive assessments using both mock and real metaHi-C datasets from diverse environments demonstrate that ImputeCC consistently outperforms other Hi-C-based contig binning tools. A genus-level analysis of the sheep gut microbiota reconstructed by ImputeCC underlines its capability to recover key species from dominant genera and identify previously unknown genera.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxuan Du
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Wenxuan Zuo
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Fengzhu Sun
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Wang W, Song W, Majzoub ME, Feng X, Xu B, Tao J, Zhu Y, Li Z, Qian PY, Webster NS, Thomas T, Fan L. Decoupling of strain- and intrastrain-level interactions of microbiomes in a sponge holobiont. Nat Commun 2024; 15:8205. [PMID: 39294150 PMCID: PMC11410982 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52464-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Holobionts are highly organized assemblages of eukaryotic hosts, cellular microbial symbionts, and viruses, whose interactions and evolution involve complex biological processes. It is largely unknown which specific determinants drive similarity or individuality in genetic diversity between holobionts. Here, we combine short- and long-read sequencing and DNA-proximity-linkage technologies to investigate intraspecific diversity of the microbiomes, including host-resolved viruses, in individuals of a model marine sponge. We find strong impacts of the sponge host and the cellular hosts of viruses on strain-level organization of the holobiont, whereas substantial overlap in nucleotide diversity between holobionts suggests frequent exchanges of microbial cells and viruses at intrastrain level in the local sponge population. Immune-evasive arms races likely restricted virus-host co-evolution at the intrastrain level, generated holobiont-specific genome variations, and linked virus-host genetics through recombination. Our work shows that a decoupling of strain- and intrastrain-level interactions is a key factor in the genetic diversification of holobionts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenxiu Wang
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Weizhi Song
- Center for Marine Science and Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Marwan E Majzoub
- Center for Marine Science and Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Xiaoyuan Feng
- Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Bu Xu
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Jianchang Tao
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Yuanqing Zhu
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Zhiyong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic and Developmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Minhang, Shanghai, China
| | - Pei-Yuan Qian
- Department of Ocean Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Nicole S Webster
- The Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
| | - Torsten Thomas
- Center for Marine Science and Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Lu Fan
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
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Wu Z, Liu T, Chen Q, Chen T, Hu J, Sun L, Wang B, Li W, Ni J. Unveiling the unknown viral world in groundwater. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6788. [PMID: 39117653 PMCID: PMC11310336 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51230-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Viruses as the prevailing biological entities are poorly understood in underground realms. Here, we establish the first metagenomic Groundwater Virome Catalogue (GWVC) comprising 280,420 viral species ( ≥ 5 kb) detected from 607 monitored wells in seven geo-environmental zones throughout China. In expanding ~10-fold the global portfolio of known groundwater viruses, we uncover over 99% novel viruses and about 95% novel viral clusters. By linking viruses to hosts from 119 prokaryotic phyla, we double the number of microbial phyla known to be virus-infected in groundwater. As keystone ultrasmall symbionts in aquifers, CPR bacteria and DPANN archaea are susceptible to virulent viruses. Certain complete CPR viruses even likely infect non-CPR bacteria, while partial CPR/DPANN viruses harbor cell-surface modification genes that assist symbiont cell adhesion to free-living microbes. This study reveals the unknown viral world and auxiliary metabolism associated with methane, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus cycling in groundwater, and highlights the importance of subsurface virosphere in viral ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zongzhi Wu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China
- Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, PR China
| | - Tang Liu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, PR China
| | - Qian Chen
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China
- Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, PR China
| | - Tianyi Chen
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China
| | - Jinyun Hu
- Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, PR China
| | - Liyu Sun
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China
| | - Bingxue Wang
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China
| | - Wenpeng Li
- Center for Groundwater Monitoring, China Institute of Geo-environmental Monitoring, Beijing, 100081, PR China
| | - Jinren Ni
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China.
- College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, PR China.
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Shi Z, Long X, Zhang C, Chen Z, Usman M, Zhang Y, Zhang S, Luo G. Viral and Bacterial Community Dynamics in Food Waste and Digestate from Full-Scale Biogas Plants. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:13010-13022. [PMID: 38989650 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c04109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is commonly used in food waste treatment. Prokaryotic microbial communities in AD of food waste have been comprehensively studied. The role of viruses, known to affect microbial dynamics and metabolism, remains largely unexplored. This study employed metagenomic analysis and recovered 967 high-quality viral bins within food waste and digestate derived from 8 full-scale biogas plants. The diversity of viral communities was higher in digestate. In silico predictions linked 20.8% of viruses to microbial host populations, highlighting possible virus predators of key functional microbes. Lineage-specific virus-host ratio varied, indicating that viral infection dynamics might differentially affect microbial responses to the varying process parameters. Evidence for virus-mediated gene transfer was identified, emphasizing the potential role of viruses in controlling the microbiome. AD altered the specific process parameters, potentially promoting a shift in viral lifestyle from lysogenic to lytic. Viruses encoding auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were involved in microbial carbon and nutrient cycling, and most AMGs were transcriptionally expressed in digestate, meaning that viruses with active functional states were likely actively involved in AD. These findings provided a comprehensive profile of viral and bacterial communities and expanded knowledge of the interactions between viruses and hosts in food waste and digestate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhijian Shi
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Xinyi Long
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Chao Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Zheng Chen
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Muhammad Usman
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
| | - Yalei Zhang
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Shicheng Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
- Shanghai Technical Service Platform for Pollution Control and Resource Utilization of Organic Wastes, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Gang Luo
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
- Shanghai Technical Service Platform for Pollution Control and Resource Utilization of Organic Wastes, Shanghai 200438, China
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Liang J, Zheng X, Ning T, Wang J, Wei X, Tan L, Shen F. Revealing the Viable Microbial Community of Biofilm in a Sewage Treatment System Using Propidium Monoazide Combined with Real-Time PCR and Metagenomics. Microorganisms 2024; 12:1508. [PMID: 39203351 PMCID: PMC11356008 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12081508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2024] [Revised: 07/16/2024] [Accepted: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 09/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Microbial community composition, function, and viability are important for biofilm-based sewage treatment technologies. Most studies of microbial communities mainly rely on the total deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from the biofilm. However, nucleotide materials released from dead microorganisms may interfere with the analysis of viable microorganisms and their metabolic potential. In this study, we developed a protocol to assess viability as well as viable community composition and function in biofilm in a sewage treatment system using propidium monoazide (PMA) coupled with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and metagenomic technology. The optimal removal of PMA from non-viable cells was achieved by a PMA concentration of 4 μM, incubation in darkness for 5 min, and exposure for 5 min. Simultaneously, the detection limit can reach a viable bacteria proportion of 1%, within the detection concentration range of 102-108 CFU/mL (colony forming unit/mL), showing its effectiveness in removing interference from dead cells. Under the optimal conditions, the result of PMA-metagenomic sequencing revealed that 6.72% to 8.18% of non-viable microorganisms were influenced and the composition and relative abundance of the dominant genera were changed. Overall, this study established a fast, sensitive, and highly specific biofilm viability detection method, which could provide technical support for accurately deciphering the structural composition and function of viable microbial communities in sewage treatment biofilms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayin Liang
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Key Laboratory of Rural Toilet and Sewage Treatment Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
| | - Xiangqun Zheng
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, No.12 Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Tianyang Ning
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Key Laboratory of Rural Toilet and Sewage Treatment Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
| | - Jiarui Wang
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Key Laboratory of Rural Toilet and Sewage Treatment Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
| | - Xiaocheng Wei
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Key Laboratory of Rural Toilet and Sewage Treatment Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
| | - Lu Tan
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Key Laboratory of Rural Toilet and Sewage Treatment Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
| | - Feng Shen
- Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China; (J.L.); (X.Z.); (T.N.); (J.W.); (F.S.)
- Key Laboratory of Rural Toilet and Sewage Treatment Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, No. 31 Fukang Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300191, China
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24
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Wang D, Liu L, Xu X, Wang C, Wang Y, Deng Y, Zhang T. Distributions, interactions, and dynamics of prokaryotes and phages in a hybrid biological wastewater treatment system. MICROBIOME 2024; 12:134. [PMID: 39039555 PMCID: PMC11265110 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-024-01853-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the interactions and dynamics of microbiotas within biological wastewater treatment systems is essential for ensuring their stability and long-term sustainability. In this study, we developed a systematic framework employing multi-omics and Hi-C sequencing to extensively investigate prokaryotic and phage communities within a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system. RESULTS We uncovered distinct distribution patterns, metabolic capabilities, and activities of functional prokaryotes through the analysis of 454 reconstructed prokaryotic genomes. Additionally, we reconstructed a phage catalog comprising 18,645 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) with high length and contiguity using hybrid assembly, and a distinct distribution of phages was depicted between activated sludge (AS) and biofilm. Importantly, 1340 host-phage pairs were established using Hi-C and conventional in silico methods, unveiling the host-determined phage prevalence. The majority of predicted hosts were found to be involved in various crucial metabolic processes, highlighting the potential vital roles of phages in influencing substance metabolism within this system. Moreover, auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) related to various categories (e.g., carbohydrate degradation, sulfur metabolism, transporter) were predicted. Subsequent activity analysis emphasized their potential ability to mediate host metabolism during infection. We also profiled the temporal dynamics of phages and their associated hosts using 13-month time-series metagenomic data, further demonstrating their tight interactions. Notably, we observed lineage-specific infection patterns, such as potentially host abundance- or phage/host ratio-driven phage population changes. CONCLUSIONS The insights gained from this research contribute to the growing body of knowledge surrounding interactions and dynamics of host-phage and pave the way for further exploration and potential applications in the field of microbial ecology. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dou Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Lei Liu
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Xiaoqing Xu
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Chunxiao Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Yulin Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Yu Deng
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Tong Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering Research, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
- School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
- Macau Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China.
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25
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Tian L, Jackson K, He L, Khan S, Thirugnanasampanthar M, Gomez M, Bayat F, Didar TF, Hosseinidoust Z. High-throughput fabrication of antimicrobial phage microgels and example applications in food decontamination. Nat Protoc 2024; 19:1591-1622. [PMID: 38413781 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-024-00964-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Engineered by nature, biological entities are exceptional building blocks for biomaterials. These entities can impart enhanced functionalities on the final material that are otherwise unattainable. However, preserving the bioactive functionalities of these building blocks during the material fabrication process remains a challenge. We describe a high-throughput protocol for the bottom-up self-assembly of highly concentrated phages into microgels while preserving and amplifying their inherent antimicrobial activity and biofunctionality. Each microgel is comprised of half a million cross-linked phages as the sole structural component, self-organized in aligned bundles. We discuss common pitfalls in the preparation procedure and describe optimization processes to ensure the preservation of the biofunctionality of the phage building blocks. This protocol enables the production of an antimicrobial spray containing the manufactured phage microgels, loaded with potent virulent phages that effectively reduced high loads of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli O157:H7 on red meat and fresh produce. Compared with other microgel preparation methods, our protocol is particularly well suited to biological materials because it is free of organic solvents and heat. Bench-scale preparation of base materials, namely microporous films (the template for casting microgels) and pure concentrated phage suspension, requires 3.5 h and 5 d, respectively. A single production run, that yields over 1,750,000 microgels, ranges from 2 h to 2 d depending on the rate of cross-linking chemistry. We expect that this platform will address bottlenecks associated with shelf-stability, preservation and delivery of phage for antimicrobial applications, expanding the use of phage for prevention and control of bacterial infections and contaminants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Tian
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kyle Jackson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Leon He
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Shadman Khan
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Mellissa Gomez
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Fereshteh Bayat
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Tohid F Didar
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Zeinab Hosseinidoust
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
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Zhang J, Tang A, Jin T, Sun D, Guo F, Lei H, Lin L, Shu W, Yu P, Li X, Li B. A panoramic view of the virosphere in three wastewater treatment plants by integrating viral-like particle-concentrated and traditional non-concentrated metagenomic approaches. IMETA 2024; 3:e188. [PMID: 38898980 PMCID: PMC11183165 DOI: 10.1002/imt2.188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2024] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Wastewater biotreatment systems harbor a rich diversity of microorganisms, and the effectiveness of biotreatment systems largely depends on the activity of these microorganisms. Specifically, viruses play a crucial role in altering microbial behavior and metabolic processes throughout their infection phases, an aspect that has recently attracted considerable interest. Two metagenomic approaches, viral-like particle-concentrated (VPC, representing free viral-like particles) and non-concentrated (NC, representing the cellular fraction), were employed to assess their efficacy in revealing virome characteristics, including taxonomy, diversity, host interactions, lifestyle, dynamics, and functional genes across processing units of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Our findings indicate that each approach offers unique insights into the viral community and functional composition. Their combined use proved effective in elucidating WWTP viromes. We identified nearly 50,000 viral contigs, with Cressdnaviricota and Uroviricota being the predominant phyla in the VPC and NC fractions, respectively. Notably, two pathogenic viral families, Asfarviridae and Adenoviridae, were commonly found in these WWTPs. We also observed significant differences in the viromes of WWTPs processing different types of wastewater. Additionally, various phage-derived auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were active at the RNA level, contributing to the metabolism of the microbial community, particularly in carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus cycling. Moreover, we identified 29 virus-carried antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) with potential for host transfer, highlighting the role of viruses in spreading ARGs in the environment. Overall, this study provides a detailed and integrated view of the virosphere in three WWTPs through the application of VPC and NC metagenomic approaches. Our findings enhance the understanding of viral communities, offering valuable insights for optimizing the operation and regulation of wastewater treatment systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayu Zhang
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
- Research Center for Eco‐Environmental EngineeringDongguan University of TechnologyDongguanChina
| | - Aixi Tang
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
| | - Tao Jin
- Guangdong Magigene Biotechnology Co., Ltd.ShenzhenChina
| | - Deshou Sun
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
- Shenzhen Tongchen Biotechnology Co., LimitedShenzhenChina
| | - Fangliang Guo
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
| | - Huaxin Lei
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
| | - Lin Lin
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
| | - Wensheng Shu
- Guangdong Magigene Biotechnology Co., Ltd.ShenzhenChina
- Institute of Ecological Science, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Subtropical Biodiversity and Biomonitoring, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Plant Development, School of Life SciencesSouth China Normal UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Pingfeng Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource SciencesZhejiang UniversityHangzhouChina
| | - Xiaoyan Li
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
| | - Bing Li
- Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate SchoolTsinghua UniversityShenzhenChina
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27
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George NA, Zhou Z, Anantharaman K, Hug LA. Discarded diversity: Novel megaphages, auxiliary metabolic genes, and virally encoded CRISPR-Cas systems in landfills. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.30.596742. [PMID: 38854013 PMCID: PMC11160803 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.30.596742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
Background Viruses are the most abundant microbial entity on the planet, impacting microbial community structure and ecosystem services. Despite outnumbering Bacteria and Archaea by an order of magnitude, viruses have been comparatively underrepresented in reference databases. Metagenomic examinations have illustrated that viruses of Bacteria and Archaea have been specifically understudied in engineered environments. Here we employed metagenomic and computational biology methods to examine the diversity, host interactions, and genetic systems of viruses predicted from 27 samples taken from three municipal landfills across North America. Results We identified numerous viruses that are not represented in reference databases, including the third largest bacteriophage genome identified to date (~678 kbp), and note a cosmopolitan diversity of viruses in landfills that are distinct from viromes in other systems. Host-virus interactions were examined via host CRISPR spacer to viral protospacer mapping which captured hyper-targeted viral populations and six viral populations predicted to infect across multiple phyla. Virally-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) were identified with the potential to augment hosts' methane, sulfur, and contaminant degradation metabolisms, including AMGs not previously reported in literature. CRISPR arrays and CRISPR-Cas systems were identified from predicted viral genomes, including the two largest bacteriophage genomes to contain these genetic features. Some virally encoded Cas effector proteins appear distinct relative to previously reported Cas systems and are interesting targets for potential genome editing tools. Conclusions Our observations indicate landfills, as heterogeneous contaminated sites with unique selective pressures, are key locations for diverse viruses and atypical virus-host dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikhil A. George
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON, Canada
| | - Zhichao Zhou
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | | | - Laura A. Hug
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON, Canada
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Wang Y, Zhang Z, Kang J, Chen B, Hong W, Lv B, Wang T, Qian H. Phages in different habitats and their ability to carry antibiotic resistance genes. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2024; 469:133941. [PMID: 38447371 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
As the most abundant organisms on Earth, phages play a key role in the evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Although previous studies have demonstrated the molecular mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer mediated by mobile genetic elements, our understanding of the intertwined relationships between antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and phages is limited. In this study, we analysed 2781 metagenomic samples to reveal the composition and species interactions of phage communities in different habitats as well as their capacity to carry ARGs with health risks. The composition of phage communities varies in different habitats and mainly depends on environmental conditions. Terrestrial habitats display more complex and robust interactions between phages than aquatic and human-associated habitats, resulting in the highest biodiversity of phages. Several types of phages in certain taxa (4.95-7.67%, mainly belonging to Caudoviricetes) have the capacity to carry specific ARGs and display a high potential risk to human health, especially in human-associated habitats. Overall, our results provide insights into the assembly mechanisms of phage communities and their effects on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Wang
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, PR China
| | - Zhenyan Zhang
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, PR China
| | - Jian Kang
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, PR China; College of Ecology and Environment, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241002, PR China
| | - Bingfeng Chen
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, PR China
| | - Wenjie Hong
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology and Bioinformatics of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, PR China
| | - Binghai Lv
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, PR China
| | - Tingzhang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology and Bioinformatics of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, PR China.
| | - Haifeng Qian
- College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310032, PR China.
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29
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Liu W, Xu C, Li T, Ren Z, Hao S, Chen Z, Huang X, Wen X. Temporal Dynamics and Contribution of Phage Community to the Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Full-Scale Sludge Anaerobic Digestion Plant. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:6296-6304. [PMID: 38556999 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an important biological resource recovery process, where microorganisms play key roles for material transformation. There has been some knowledge about the prokaryotic community and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in AD, but there has been very limited knowledge of phages. In this study, samples from a full-scale AD plant were collected over 13 months, sequenced, and analyzed for viral and prokaryotic metagenomes. Totally, 3015 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) were detected, mostly assigned to Caudoviricetes. The phage community had faster temporal variation than the prokaryotic community. Warm seasons harbored a higher abundance of both temperate phages and broad host-range phages. Seven ARGs of 6 subtypes were carried by 20 vOTUs, a representative ermT gene was synthesized and expressed, and the resistance activity in the host was examined, confirming the real activity of virus-carried ARGs in the AD process. Some of the ARGs were horizontally transferred between the phage and prokaryotic genomes. However, phage infection was not found to contribute to ARG transfer. This study provided an insight into the ecological patterns of the phage community, confirmed the antibiotic resistance activity of virus-carried ARGs, evaluated the contribution of phages on the ARG prevalence, and laid the foundation for the control strategies of the community and antibiotic resistance in the AD process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Liu
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Chenyang Xu
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Tianle Li
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Zhengran Ren
- Research and Development Center, Beijing Drainage Group Co. Ltd., Beijing 100080, China
| | - Shan Hao
- Research and Development Center, Beijing Drainage Group Co. Ltd., Beijing 100080, China
| | - Zhan Chen
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xia Huang
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Xianghua Wen
- School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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30
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Zhao H, Yang M, Fan X, Gui Q, Yi H, Tong Y, Xiao W. A Metagenomic Investigation of Potential Health Risks and Element Cycling Functions of Bacteria and Viruses in Wastewater Treatment Plants. Viruses 2024; 16:535. [PMID: 38675877 PMCID: PMC11054999 DOI: 10.3390/v16040535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The concentration of viruses in sewage sludge is significantly higher (10-1000-fold) than that found in natural environments, posing a potential risk for human and animal health. However, the composition of these viruses and their role in the transfer of pathogenic factors, as well as their role in the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles remain poorly understood. In this study, we employed a shotgun metagenomic approach to investigate the pathogenic bacteria and viral composition and function in two wastewater treatment plants located on a campus. Our analysis revealed the presence of 1334 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) across six sludge samples, with 242 ASVs (41.22% of total reads) identified as pathogenic bacteria. Arcobacter was found to be the most dominant pathogen accounting for 6.79% of total reads. The virome analysis identified 613 viral genera with Aorunvirus being the most abundant genus at 41.85%. Approximately 0.66% of these viruses were associated with human and animal diseases. More than 60% of the virome consisted of lytic phages. Host prediction analysis revealed that the phages primarily infected Lactobacillus (37.11%), Streptococcus (21.11%), and Staphylococcus (7.11%). Furthermore, our investigation revealed an abundance of auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) involved in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling within the virome. We also detected a total of 113 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), covering major classes of antibiotics across all samples analyzed. Additionally, our findings indicated the presence of virulence factors including the clpP gene accounting for approximately 4.78%, along with toxin genes such as the RecT gene representing approximately 73.48% of all detected virulence factors and toxin genes among all samples analyzed. This study expands our understanding regarding both pathogenic bacteria and viruses present within sewage sludge while providing valuable insights into their ecological functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haozhe Zhao
- Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China; (H.Z.); (M.Y.); (X.F.); (Q.G.); (H.Y.)
| | - Mingfei Yang
- Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China; (H.Z.); (M.Y.); (X.F.); (Q.G.); (H.Y.)
| | - Xiang Fan
- Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China; (H.Z.); (M.Y.); (X.F.); (Q.G.); (H.Y.)
| | - Qian Gui
- Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China; (H.Z.); (M.Y.); (X.F.); (Q.G.); (H.Y.)
| | - Hao Yi
- Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China; (H.Z.); (M.Y.); (X.F.); (Q.G.); (H.Y.)
| | - Yigang Tong
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Wei Xiao
- Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China; (H.Z.); (M.Y.); (X.F.); (Q.G.); (H.Y.)
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31
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Schmidtke DT, Hickey AS, Liachko I, Sherlock G, Bhatt AS. Analysis and culturing of the prototypic crAssphage reveals a phage-plasmid lifestyle. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.20.585998. [PMID: 38562748 PMCID: PMC10983915 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.20.585998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
The prototypic crAssphage (Carjivirus communis) is one of the most abundant, prevalent, and persistent gut bacteriophages, yet it remains uncultured and its lifestyle uncharacterized. For the last decade, crAssphage has escaped plaque-dependent culturing efforts, leading us to investigate alternative lifestyles that might explain its widespread success. Through genomic analyses and culturing, we find that crAssphage uses a phage-plasmid lifestyle to persist extrachromosomally. Plasmid-related genes are more highly expressed than those implicated in phage maintenance. Leveraging this finding, we use a plaque-free culturing approach to measure crAssphage replication in culture with Phocaeicola vulgatus, Phocaeicola dorei, and Bacteroides stercoris, revealing a broad host range. We demonstrate that crAssphage persists with its hosts in culture without causing major cell lysis events or integrating into host chromosomes. The ability to switch between phage and plasmid lifestyles within a wide range of hosts contributes to the prolific nature of crAssphage in the human gut microbiome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danica T. Schmidtke
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Gavin Sherlock
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Senior author
| | - Ami S. Bhatt
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine (Division of Hematology), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Lead corresponding author
- Senior author
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32
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Bhattarai B, Bhattacharjee AS, Coutinho FH, Goel R. Investigating the viral ecology and contribution to the microbial ecology in full-scale mesophilic anaerobic digesters. CHEMOSPHERE 2024; 349:140743. [PMID: 37984648 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
In an attempt to assess the diversity of viruses and their potential to modulate the metabolism of functional microorganisms in anaerobic digesters, we collected digestate from three mesophilic anaerobic digesters in full-scale wastewater treatment plants treating real municipal wastewater. The reads were analyzed using bioinformatics algorithms to elucidate viral diversity, identify their potential role in modulating the metabolism of functional microorganisms, and provide essential genomic information for the potential use of virus-mediated treatment in controlling the anaerobic digester microbiome. We found that Siphoviridae was the dominant family in mesophilic anaerobic digesters, followed by Myoviridae and Podoviridae. Lysogeny was prevalent in mesophilic anaerobic digesters as the majority of metagenome-assembled genomes contained at least one viral genome within them. One virus within the genome of an acetoclastic methanogen (Methanothrix soehngenii) was observed with a gene (fwdE) acquired via lateral transfer from hydrogenotrophic methanogens. The virus-mediated acquisition of fwdE gene enables possibility of mixotrophic methanogenesis in Methanothrix soehngenii. This evidence highlighted that lysogeny provides fitness advantage to methanogens in anaerobic digesters by adding flexibility to changing substrates. Similarly, we found auxiliary metabolic genes, such as cellulase and alpha glucosidase, of bacterial origin responsible for sludge hydrolysis in viruses. Additionally, we discovered novel viral genomes and provided genomic information on viruses infecting acidogenic, acetogenic, and pathogenic bacteria that can potentially be used for virus-mediated treatment to deal with the souring problem in anaerobic digesters and remove pathogens from biosolids before land application. Collectively, our study provides a genome-level understanding of virome in conjunction with the microbiome in anaerobic digesters that can be used to optimize the anaerobic digestion process for efficient biogas generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bishav Bhattarai
- The University of Utah, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 110 S Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, United States.
| | - Ananda Shankar Bhattacharjee
- Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States; USDA-ARS, United States Salinity Laboratory, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Felipe H Coutinho
- Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICM-CISC), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ramesh Goel
- The University of Utah, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 110 S Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, United States.
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33
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Wang D, Shang J, Lin H, Liang J, Wang C, Sun Y, Bai Y, Qu J. Identifying ARG-carrying bacteriophages in a lake replenished by reclaimed water using deep learning techniques. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 248:120859. [PMID: 37976954 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
As important mobile genetic elements, phages support the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Previous analyses of metaviromes or metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) failed to assess the extent of ARGs transferred by phages, particularly in the generation of antibiotic pathogens. Therefore, we have developed a bioinformatic pipeline that utilizes deep learning techniques to identify ARG-carrying phages and predict their hosts, with a special focus on pathogens. Using this method, we discovered that the predominant types of ARGs carried by temperate phages in a typical landscape lake, which is fully replenished by reclaimed water, were related to multidrug resistance and β-lactam antibiotics. MAGs containing virulent factors (VFs) were predicted to serve as hosts for these ARG-carrying phages, which suggests that the phages may have the potential to transfer ARGs. In silico analysis showed a significant positive correlation between temperate phages and host pathogens (R = 0.503, p < 0.001), which was later confirmed by qPCR. Interestingly, these MAGs were found to be more abundant than those containing both ARGs and VFs, especially in December and March. Seasonal variations were observed in the abundance of phages harboring ARGs (from 5.62 % to 21.02 %) and chromosomes harboring ARGs (from 18.01 % to 30.94 %). In contrast, the abundance of plasmids harboring ARGs remained unchanged. In summary, this study leverages deep learning to analyze phage-transferred ARGs and demonstrates an alternative method to track the production of potential antibiotic-resistant pathogens by metagenomics that can be extended to microbiological risk assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donglin Wang
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Jiayu Shang
- Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Hui Lin
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Jinsong Liang
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Chenchen Wang
- School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Aquatic Science and Technology, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, China
| | - Yanni Sun
- Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Yaohui Bai
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
| | - Jiuhui Qu
- Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
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34
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Kallies R, Hu D, Abdulkadir N, Schloter M, Rocha U. Identification of Huge Phages from Wastewater Metagenomes. Viruses 2023; 15:2330. [PMID: 38140571 PMCID: PMC10747093 DOI: 10.3390/v15122330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2023] [Revised: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Huge phages have genomes larger than 200 kilobases, which are particularly interesting for their genetic inventory and evolution. We screened 165 wastewater metagenomes for the presence of viral sequences. After identifying over 600 potential huge phage genomes, we reduced the dataset using manual curation by excluding viral contigs that did not contain viral protein-coding genes or consisted of concatemers of several small phage genomes. This dataset showed seven fully annotated huge phage genomes. The phages grouped into distinct phylogenetic clades, likely forming new genera and families. A phylogenomic analysis between our huge phages and phages with smaller genomes, i.e., less than 200 kb, supported the hypothesis that huge phages have undergone convergent evolution. The genomes contained typical phage protein-coding genes, sequential gene cassettes for metabolic pathways, and complete inventories of tRNA genes covering all standard and rare amino acids. Our study showed a pipeline for huge phage analyses that may lead to new enzymes for therapeutic or biotechnological applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- René Kallies
- Department for Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany; (D.H.); (N.A.)
| | - Die Hu
- Department for Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany; (D.H.); (N.A.)
| | - Nafi’u Abdulkadir
- Department for Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany; (D.H.); (N.A.)
| | - Michael Schloter
- Department of Environmental Health, Helmholtz Munich, Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, D-85758 Neuherberg, Germany;
| | - Ulisses Rocha
- Department for Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany; (D.H.); (N.A.)
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35
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Wu R, Davison MR, Nelson WC, Smith ML, Lipton MS, Jansson JK, McClure RS, McDermott JE, Hofmockel KS. Hi-C metagenome sequencing reveals soil phage-host interactions. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7666. [PMID: 37996432 PMCID: PMC10667309 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42967-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteriophages are abundant in soils. However, the majority are uncharacterized, and their hosts are unknown. Here, we apply high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) to directly capture phage-host relationships. Some hosts have high centralities in bacterial community co-occurrence networks, suggesting phage infections have an important impact on the soil bacterial community interactions. We observe increased average viral copies per host (VPH) and decreased viral transcriptional activity following a two-week soil-drying incubation, indicating an increase in lysogenic infections. Soil drying also alters the observed phage host range. A significant negative correlation between VPH and host abundance prior to drying indicates more lytic infections result in more host death and inversely influence host abundance. This study provides empirical evidence of phage-mediated bacterial population dynamics in soil by directly capturing specific phage-host interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruonan Wu
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Michelle R Davison
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - William C Nelson
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Montana L Smith
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Mary S Lipton
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Janet K Jansson
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Ryan S McClure
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Jason E McDermott
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Kirsten S Hofmockel
- Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
- Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
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36
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Zhao Y, Huang F, Wang W, Gao R, Fan L, Wang A, Gao SH. Application of high-throughput sequencing technologies and analytical tools for pathogen detection in urban water systems: Progress and future perspectives. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 900:165867. [PMID: 37516185 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/31/2023]
Abstract
The ubiquitous presence of pathogenic microorganisms, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, in urban water systems poses a significant risk to public health. The emergence of infectious waterborne diseases mediated by urban water systems has become one of the leading global causes of mortality. However, the detection and monitoring of these pathogenic microorganisms have been limited by the complexity and diversity in the environmental samples. Conventional methods were restricted by long assay time, high benchmarks of identification, and narrow application sceneries. Novel technologies, such as high-throughput sequencing technologies, enable potentially full-spectrum detection of trace pathogenic microorganisms in complex environmental matrices. This review discusses the current state of high-throughput sequencing technologies for identifying pathogenic microorganisms in urban water systems with a concise summary. Furthermore, future perspectives in pathogen research emphasize the need for detection methods with high accuracy and sensitivity, the establishment of precise detection standards and procedures, and the significance of bioinformatics software and platforms. We have compiled a list of pathogens analysis software/platforms/databases that boast robust engines and high accuracy for preference. We highlight the significance of analyses by combining targeted and non-targeted sequencing technologies, short and long reads technologies, sequencing technologies, and bioinformatic tools in pursuing upgraded biosafety in urban water systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanmei Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Fang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
| | - Wenxiu Wang
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China.
| | - Rui Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
| | - Lu Fan
- Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
| | - Aijie Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
| | - Shu-Hong Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China.
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37
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Tan Y, Yu P, Huang D, Yuan MM, Yu Z, Lu H, Alvarez PJJ, Zhu L. Enhanced Bacterium-Phage Symbiosis in Attached Microbial Aggregates on a Membrane Surface Facing Elevated Hydraulic Stress. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:17324-17337. [PMID: 37930060 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c05452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Phages are increasingly recognized for their importance in microbial aggregates, including their influence on microbial ecosystem services and biotechnology applications. However, the adaptive strategies and ecological functions of phages in different aggregates remain largely unexplored. Herein, we used membrane bioreactors to investigate bacterium-phage interactions and related microbial functions within suspended and attached microbial aggregates (SMA vs AMA). SMA and AMA represent distinct microbial habitats where bacterial communities display distinct patterns in terms of dominant species, keystone species, and bacterial networks. However, bacteria and phages in both aggregates exhibited high lysogenicity, with 60% lysogenic phages in the virome and 70% lysogenic metagenome-assembled genomes of bacteria. Moreover, substantial phages exhibited broad host ranges (34% in SMA and 42% in AMA) and closely interacted with habitat generalist species (43% in SMA and 49% in AMA) as adaptive strategies in stressful operation environments. Following a mutualistic pattern, phage-carried auxiliary metabolic genes (pAMGs; 238 types in total) presumably contributed to the bacterial survival and aggregate stability. The SMA-pAMGs were mainly associated with energy metabolism, while the AMA-pAMGs were mainly associated with antioxidant biosynthesis and the synthesis of extracellular polymeric substances, representing habitat-dependent patterns. Overall, this study advanced our understanding of phage adaptive strategies in microbial aggregate habitats and emphasized the importance of bacterium-phage symbiosis in the stability of microbial aggregates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yixiao Tan
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Pingfeng Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiashan 314100, China
| | - Dan Huang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Mengting Maggie Yuan
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Zhuodong Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Huijie Lu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Pedro J J Alvarez
- Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Liang Zhu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiashan 314100, China
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38
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Palomo A, Dechesne A, Smets BF, Zheng Y. Narrow host range phages infect essential bacteria for water purification reactions in groundwater-fed rapid sand filters. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 245:120655. [PMID: 37748347 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
Biofiltration is used worldwide to provide safe potable water due to its low energy demand and excellent treatment performance. For instance, in Denmark, over 95% of drinking water is supplied through groundwater-fed rapid sand filters (RSF). Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, have been shown to shape the taxonomic and functional composition of microbial communities across a range of natural and engineering systems. However, phages in the biofiltration systems are rarely studied, despite the central role microbes play in water purification. To probe this, metagenomic data from surface water, groundwater and mixed source water biofiltration units (n = 26 from China, Europe and USA) for drinking water production were analysed to characterize prokaryotic viruses and to identify their potential microbial hosts. The source water type and geographical location are found to exert influence on the composition of the phageome in biofilters. Although the viral abundance (71,676 ± 17,841 RPKM) in biofilters is only 14.4% and 17.0% lower than those of the nutrient-rich wastewater treatment plants and fresh surface waters, the richness (1,441 ± 1,046) and diversity (Inverse Simpson: 91 ± 61) in biofiltration units are significantly less by a factor of 2-5 and 3-4, respectively. In depth analysis of data from 24 groundwater-fed RSFs in Denmark revealed a core phageome shared by most RSFs, which was consistently linked to dominant microbial hosts involved in key biological reactions for water purification. Finally, the high number of specific links detected between phages and bacterial species and the large proportion of lytic phages (77%) led to the conjecture that phages regulate bacterial populations through predation, preventing the proliferation of dominant species and contributing to the established functional redundancy among the dominant microbial groups. In conclusion, bacteriophages are likely to play a significant role in water treatment within biofilters, particularly through interactions with key bacterial species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Palomo
- State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement and Early Warning Technology for Urban Environmental Health Risks, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Arnaud Dechesne
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Barth F Smets
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Yan Zheng
- State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement and Early Warning Technology for Urban Environmental Health Risks, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
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Chen T, Deng C, Wu Z, Liu T, Zhang Y, Xu X, Zhao X, Li J, Li S, Xu N, Yu K. Metagenomic analysis unveils the underexplored roles of prokaryotic viruses in a full-scale landfill leachate treatment plant. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 245:120611. [PMID: 37722141 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
Enormous viral populations have been identified in activated sludge systems, but their ecological and biochemical roles in landfill leachate treatment plants remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted an in-depth analysis using 36 metagenomic datasets that we collected and sequenced during a half-year time-series sampling campaign at six sites in a full-scale landfill leachate treatment plant (LLTP), elucidating viral distribution, virus‒host dynamics, virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), and viral contributions to the spread of virulence and antibiotic resistance genes. Our findings demonstrated that viral and prokaryotic communities differed widely among different treatment units, with stability over time. LLTP viruses were linked to various prokaryotic hosts, spanning 35 bacterial phyla and one archaeal phylum, which included the core microbes involved in biological treatments, as well as some of the less well-characterized microbial dark matter phyla. By encoding 2364 auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), viruses harbored the potential to regulate microbial nucleotide metabolism, facilitate the biodegradation of complex organic matter, and enhance flocculation and settling in biological treatment plants. The abundance distribution of AMGs varied considerably across treatment units and showed a lifestyle-dependent pattern with temperate virus-associated AMGs exhibiting a higher average abundance in downstream biological treatment units and effluent water. Meanwhile, temperate viruses tended to carry a higher load of virulence factor genes (VFGs), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and biotic and metal resistance genes (BMRGs), and engaged in more frequent gene exchanges with prokaryotes than lytic viruses, thus acting as a pivotal contributor to the dissemination of pathogenicity and resistance genes in downstream LLTP units. This study provided a comprehensive profile of viral and prokaryotic communities in the LLTP and unveiled the varying roles of different-lifestyle viruses in biochemical processes and water quality safety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianyi Chen
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China; Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Chunfang Deng
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China; Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
| | - Zongzhi Wu
- Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Tang Liu
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Yuanyan Zhang
- Jiangxi Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences & Planning, Nanchang 330029, China
| | - Xuming Xu
- Department of Water Ecology and Environment, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
| | - Xiaohui Zhao
- Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Jiarui Li
- Environmental Microbiome and Innovative Genomics Laboratory, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Shaoyang Li
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Nan Xu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Ke Yu
- Eco-environment and Resource Efficiency Research Laboratory, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
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Du Y, Sun F. MetaCC allows scalable and integrative analyses of both long-read and short-read metagenomic Hi-C data. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6231. [PMID: 37802989 PMCID: PMC10558524 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41209-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Metagenomic Hi-C (metaHi-C) can identify contig-to-contig relationships with respect to their proximity within the same physical cell. Shotgun libraries in metaHi-C experiments can be constructed by next-generation sequencing (short-read metaHi-C) or more recent third-generation sequencing (long-read metaHi-C). However, all existing metaHi-C analysis methods are developed and benchmarked on short-read metaHi-C datasets and there exists much room for improvement in terms of more scalable and stable analyses, especially for long-read metaHi-C data. Here we report MetaCC, an efficient and integrative framework for analyzing both short-read and long-read metaHi-C datasets. MetaCC outperforms existing methods on normalization and binning. In particular, the MetaCC normalization module, named NormCC, is more than 3000 times faster than the current state-of-the-art method HiCzin on a complex wastewater dataset. When applied to one sheep gut long-read metaHi-C dataset, MetaCC binning module can retrieve 709 high-quality genomes with the largest species diversity using one single sample, including an expansion of five uncultured members from the order Erysipelotrichales, and is the only binner that can recover the genome of one important species Bacteroides vulgatus. Further plasmid analyses reveal that MetaCC binning is able to capture multi-copy plasmids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxuan Du
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Fengzhu Sun
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Fan L, Peng W, Duan H, Lü F, Zhang H, He P. Presence and role of viruses in anaerobic digestion of food waste under environmental variability. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:170. [PMID: 37537690 PMCID: PMC10401857 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01585-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The interaction among microorganisms in the anaerobic digestion of food waste (ADFW) reactors lead to the degradation of organics and the recycling of energy. Viruses are an important component of the microorganisms involved in ADFW, but are rarely investigated. Furthermore, little is known about how viruses affect methanogenesis. RESULTS Thousands of viral sequences were recovered from five full-scale ADFW reactors. Gene-sharing networks indicated that the ADFW samples contained substantial numbers of unexplored anaerobic-specific viruses. Moreover, the viral communities in five full-scale reactors exhibited both commonalities and heterogeneities. The lab-scale dynamic analysis of typical ADFW scenarios suggested that the viruses had similar kinetic characteristics to their prokaryotic hosts. By associating with putative hosts, a majority of the bacteria and archaea phyla were found to be infected by viruses. Viruses may influence prokaryotic ecological niches, and thus methanogenesis, by infecting key functional microorganisms, such as sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), syntrophic acetate-oxidizing bacteria (SAOB), and methanogens. Metabolic predictions for the viruses suggested that they may collaborate with hosts at key steps of sulfur and long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) metabolism and could be involved in typical methanogenesis pathways to participate in methane production. CONCLUSIONS Our results expanded the diversity of viruses in ADFW systems and suggested two ways that viral manipulated ADFW biochemical processes. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Fan
- Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Wei Peng
- Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China.
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Multi-Source Solid Wastes Co-processing and Energy Utilization, Shanghai, 200092, China.
| | - Haowen Duan
- Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Fan Lü
- Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Multi-Source Solid Wastes Co-processing and Energy Utilization, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Hua Zhang
- Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Multi-Source Solid Wastes Co-processing and Energy Utilization, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Pinjing He
- Institute of Waste Treatment and Reclamation, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
- Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China.
- Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Multi-Source Solid Wastes Co-processing and Energy Utilization, Shanghai, 200092, China.
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Cheng Z, Li X, Palomo A, Yang Q, Han L, Wu Z, Li Z, Zhang M, Chen L, Zhao B, Yu K, Zhang C, Hou S, Zheng Y, Xia Y. Virus impacted community adaptation in oligotrophic groundwater environment revealed by Hi-C coupled metagenomic and viromic study. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2023; 458:131944. [PMID: 37390685 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
Viruses play a crucial role in microbial mortality, diversity and biogeochemical cycles. Groundwater is the largest global freshwater and one of the most oligotrophic aquatic systems on Earth, but how microbial and viral communities are shaped in this special habitat is largely unexplored. In this study, we collected groundwater samples from 23 to 60 m aquifers at Yinchuan Plain, China. In total, 1920 non-reductant viral contigs were retrieved from metagenomes and viromes constructed by Illumina and Nanopore hybrid sequencing. Only 3% of them could be clustered with known viruses, most of which were Caudoviricetes. Coupling 1.2 Tb Hi-C sequencing with CRISPR matching and homology search, we connected 469 viruses with their hosts while some viral clusters presented a broad-host-range trait. Meanwhile, a large proportion of biosynthesis related auxiliary metabolism genes were identified. Those characteristics might benefit viruses for a better survival in this special oligotrophic environment. Additionally, the groundwater virome showed genomic features distinct from those of the open ocean and wastewater treatment facilities in GC distribution and unannotated gene compositions. This paper expands the current knowledge of the global viromic records and serves as a foundation for a more thorough understanding of viruses in groundwater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhanwen Cheng
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Xiang Li
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Alejandro Palomo
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Qing Yang
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Long Han
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Ziqi Wu
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Zengyi Li
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Miao Zhang
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Liming Chen
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Bixi Zhao
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Kaiqiang Yu
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Chuanlun Zhang
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Archaea Geo-Omics, Department of Ocean Science and Department of Ocean Science & Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 510000, China
| | - Shengwei Hou
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Archaea Geo-Omics, Department of Ocean Science and Department of Ocean Science & Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 510000, China
| | - Yan Zheng
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Archaea Geo-Omics, Department of Ocean Science and Department of Ocean Science & Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
| | - Yu Xia
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
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Ariyadasa S, Taylor W, Weaver L, McGill E, Billington C, Pattis I. Nonbacterial Microflora in Wastewater Treatment Plants: an Underappreciated Potential Source of Pathogens. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0048123. [PMID: 37222623 PMCID: PMC10269893 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00481-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) receive and treat large volumes of domestic, industrial, and urban wastewater containing pathogenic and nonpathogenic microorganisms, chemical compounds, heavy metals, and other potentially hazardous substances. WWTPs play an essential role in preserving human, animal, and environmental health by removing many of these toxic and infectious agents, particularly biological hazards. Wastewater contains complex consortiums of bacterial, viral, archaeal, and eukaryotic species, and while bacteria in WWTP have been extensively studied, the temporal and spatial distribution of nonbacterial microflora (viruses, archaea, and eukaryotes) is less understood. In this study, we analyzed the viral, archaeal, and eukaryotic microflora in wastewater throughout a treatment plant (raw influent, effluent, oxidation pond water, and oxidation pond sediment) in Aotearoa (New Zealand) using Illumina shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our results suggest a similar trend across many taxa, with an increase in relative abundance in oxidation pond samples compared to influent and effluent samples, except for archaea, which had the opposite trend. Additionally, some microbial families, such as Podoviridae bacteriophages and Apicomplexa alveolates, appeared largely unaffected by the treatment process, with their relative abundance remaining stable throughout. Several groups encompassing pathogenic species, such as Leishmania, Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Apicomplexa, Cryptococcus, Botrytis, and Ustilago, were identified. If present, these potentially pathogenic species could be a threat to human and animal health and agricultural productivity; therefore, further investigation is warranted. These nonbacterial pathogens should be considered when assessing the potential for vector transmission, distribution of biosolids to land, and discharge of treated wastewater to waterways or land. IMPORTANCE Nonbacterial microflora in wastewater remain understudied compared to their bacterial counterparts despite their importance in the wastewater treatment process. In this study, we report the temporal and spatial distributions of DNA viruses, archaea, protozoa, and fungi in raw wastewater influent, effluent, oxidation pond water, and oxidation pond sediments by using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our study indicated the presence of groups of nonbacterial taxa which encompass pathogenic species that may have potential to cause disease in humans, animals, and agricultural crops. We also observed higher alpha diversity in viruses, archaea, and fungi in effluent samples than in influent samples. This suggests that the resident microflora in the wastewater treatment plant may be making a greater contribution to the diversity of taxa observed in wastewater effluent than previously thought. This study provides important insights to better understand the potential human, animal, and environmental health impacts of discharged treated wastewater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sujani Ariyadasa
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - William Taylor
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Louise Weaver
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Erin McGill
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Craig Billington
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Isabelle Pattis
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch, New Zealand
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Liao H, Liu C, Ai C, Gao T, Yang QE, Yu Z, Gao S, Zhou S, Friman VP. Mesophilic and thermophilic viruses are associated with nutrient cycling during hyperthermophilic composting. THE ISME JOURNAL 2023; 17:916-930. [PMID: 37031344 PMCID: PMC10202948 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-023-01404-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 04/10/2023]
Abstract
While decomposition of organic matter by bacteria plays a major role in nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, the significance of viruses remains poorly understood. Here we combined metagenomics and metatranscriptomics with temporal sampling to study the significance of mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria and their viruses on nutrient cycling during industrial-scale hyperthermophilic composting (HTC). Our results show that virus-bacteria density dynamics and activity are tightly coupled, where viruses specific to mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria track their host densities, triggering microbial community succession via top-down control during HTC. Moreover, viruses specific to mesophilic bacteria encoded and expressed several auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) linked to carbon cycling, impacting nutrient turnover alongside bacteria. Nutrient turnover correlated positively with virus-host ratio, indicative of a positive relationship between ecosystem functioning, viral abundances, and viral activity. These effects were predominantly driven by DNA viruses as most detected RNA viruses were associated with eukaryotes and not associated with nutrient cycling during the thermophilic phase of composting. Our findings suggest that DNA viruses could drive nutrient cycling during HTC by recycling bacterial biomass through cell lysis and by expressing key AMGs. Viruses could hence potentially be used as indicators of microbial ecosystem functioning to optimize productivity of biotechnological and agricultural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanpeng Liao
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China
| | - Chen Liu
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Chaofan Ai
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Tian Gao
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Qiu-E Yang
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China
| | - Zhen Yu
- Institute of Eco-Environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China
| | - Shaoming Gao
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Shungui Zhou
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Environmental Health and Regulation, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
- Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China.
| | - Ville-Petri Friman
- Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, YO10 5DD, York, UK.
- Department of Microbiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland.
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Deng X, Yuan J, Chen L, Chen H, Wei C, Nielsen PH, Wuertz S, Qiu G. CRISPR-Cas phage defense systems and prophages in Candidatus Accumulibacter. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 235:119906. [PMID: 37004306 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Candidatus Accumulibacter plays a major role in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) from wastewater. Although bacteriophages have been shown to represent fatal threats to Ca. Accumulibacter organisms and thus interfere with the stability of the EBPR process, little is known about the ability of different Ca. Accumulibacter strains to resist phage infections. We conducted a systematic analysis of the occurrence and characteristics of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated proteins (CRISPR-Cas) systems and prophages in Ca. Accumulibacter lineage members (43 in total, including 10 newly recovered genomes). Results indicate that 28 Ca. Accumulibacter genomes encode CRISPR-Cas systems. They were likely acquired via horizontal gene transfer, conveying a distinct adaptivity to phage predation to different Ca. Accumulibacter members. Major differences in the number of spacers show the unique phage resistance of these members. A comparison of the spacers in closely related Ca. Accumulibacter members from distinct geographical locations indicates that habitat isolation may have resulted in the acquisition of resistance to different phages by different Ca. Accumulibacter. Long-term operation of three laboratory-scale EBPR bioreactors revealed high relative abundances of Ca. Accumulibacter with CRISPSR-Cas systems. Their specific resistance to phages in these reactors was indicated by spacer analysis. Metatranscriptomic analyses showed the activation of the CRISPR-Cas system under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Additionally, 133 prophage regions were identified in 43 Ca. Accumulibacter genomes. Twenty-seven of them (in 19 genomes) were potentially active. Major differences in the occurrence of CRISPR-Cas systems and prophages in Ca. Accumulibacter will lead to distinct responses to phage predation. This study represents the first systematic analysis of CRISPR-Cas systems and prophages in the Ca. Accumulibacter lineage, providing new perspectives on the potential impacts of phages on Ca. Accumulibacter and EBPR systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuhan Deng
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Jing Yuan
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Liping Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Hang Chen
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chaohai Wei
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; The Key Lab of Pollution Control and Ecosystem Restoration in Industry Clusters, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Per H Nielsen
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Centre for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg DK-9220, Denmark
| | - Stefan Wuertz
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
| | - Guanglei Qiu
- School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551, Singapore; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Wastes Pollution Control and Recycling, Guangzhou 510006, China.
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Huang DQ, Wu Q, Yang JH, Jiang Y, Li ZY, Fan NS, Jin RC. Deciphering endogenous and exogenous regulations of anammox consortia in responding to lincomycin by multiomics: quorum sensing and CRISPR system. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 239:120061. [PMID: 37201375 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The widespread use of antibiotics has created an antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)-enriched environment, which causes high risks on human and animal health. Although antibiotics can be partially adsorbed and degraded in wastewater treatment processes, striving for a complete understanding of the microbial adaptive mechanism to antibiotic stress remains urgent. Combined with metagenomics and metabolomics, this study revealed that anammox consortia could adapt to lincomycin by spontaneously changing the preference for metabolite utilization and establishing interactions with eukaryotes, such as Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Specifically, quorum sensing (QS) based microbial regulation and the ARGs transfer mediated by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system and global regulatory genes were the principal adaptive strategies. Western blotting results validated that Cas9 and TrfA were mainly responsible for the alteration of ARGs transfer pathway. These findings highlight the potential adaptative mechanism of microbes to antibiotic stress and fill gaps in horizontal gene transfer pathways in the anammox process, further facilitating the ARGs control through molecular and synthetic biology techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong-Qi Huang
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Qian Wu
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Jia-Hui Yang
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Yuan Jiang
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Zi-Yue Li
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Nian-Si Fan
- Laboratory of Water Pollution Remediation, School of Engineering, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310018, China; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
| | - Ren-Cun Jin
- Laboratory of Water Pollution Remediation, School of Engineering, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310018, China; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
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47
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Yuan L, Ju F. Potential Auxiliary Metabolic Capabilities and Activities Reveal Biochemical Impacts of Viruses in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:5485-5498. [PMID: 36947091 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Viruses influence biogeochemical cycles in oceans, freshwater, soil, and human gut through infection and by modulating virocell metabolism through virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (vAMGs). However, the geographical distribution, potential metabolic function, and engineering significance of vAMGs in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) remain to be explored. Here, 752 single-contig viral genomes with high confidence, 510 of which belonged to Caudovirales, were recovered from the activated sludge metagenomes of 32 geographically distributed WWTPs. A total of 101 vAMGs involved in various metabolic pathways were identified, the most common of which were the queuosine biosynthesis genes folE, queD, and queE and the sulfur metabolism gene cysH. Phylogenetic analysis and virus-host relationship prediction revealed the probable evolutionary histories of vAMGs involved in carbon (acpP and prsA), nitrogen (amoC), sulfur (cysH), and phosphate (phoH) metabolism, which potentially mediate microbial carbon and nutrient cycling. Notably, 11 of the 38 (28.3%) vAMGs identified in the metagenomes with corresponding metatranscriptomes were transcriptionally expressed, implying an active functional state. This meta-analysis provides the first broad catalog of vAMGs in municipal WWTPs and how they may assist in the basic physiological reactions of their microbial hosts or nutrient cycling in the WWTPs, and therefore, may have important effects on the engineering of wastewater treatment processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ling Yuan
- Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang, China
- Environmental Microbiome and Biotechnology Laboratory (EMBLab), Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang, China
| | - Feng Ju
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang, China
- Environmental Microbiome and Biotechnology Laboratory (EMBLab), Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang, China
- Research Center for Industries of the Future, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Zhejiang, China
- Institute of Advanced Technology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou 310024, China
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou 310024, China
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Liu R, Li Z, Han G, Cun S, Hou D, Yu Z, Xue K, Liu X. Microbial density-dependent viral dynamics and low activity of temperate phages in the activated sludge process. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 232:119709. [PMID: 36764107 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The ecological behavior of bacteriophages (phages), the most abundant biological entity in wastewater treatment systems, is poorly understood, especially that of temperate phages. Here, the temporal dynamics of lytic and temperate phages in a laboratory-scale activated sludge reactor with a sludge bulking issue was investigated using coupled sludge metagenomic and viromic analyses. The lysogenic fragments (prophages) identified were widely distributed in the reconstructed metagenome-assembled genomes (61.7%, n = 227). However, only 12.3% of the identified prophages experienced lysogenic-lytic switching, and the abundance contribution of prophages to free virus communities was only 0.02-0.3%, indicating low activity of temperate phages. Although the sludge community changed dramatically during reactor operation, no massive prophage induction events were detected. Statistical analyses showed strong correlations between sludge concentration and free virus and temperate phage communities, suggesting microbial density-dependent virus dynamics in the sludge microbiota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruyin Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; RCEES-IMCAS-UCAS Joint-Lab of Microbial Technology for Environmental Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Binzhou Institute of Technology, Weiqiao-UCAS Science and Technology Park, Binzhou City, Shandong Province, China.
| | - Zong Li
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; RCEES-IMCAS-UCAS Joint-Lab of Microbial Technology for Environmental Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ganghua Han
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; RCEES-IMCAS-UCAS Joint-Lab of Microbial Technology for Environmental Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shujuan Cun
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; RCEES-IMCAS-UCAS Joint-Lab of Microbial Technology for Environmental Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Deyin Hou
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhisheng Yu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; RCEES-IMCAS-UCAS Joint-Lab of Microbial Technology for Environmental Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Kai Xue
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xinchun Liu
- College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China; Yanshan Earth Critical Zone National Research Station, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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49
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Zhang H, Lyu L, Hu C, Ren T, Li F, Shi Y, Han M, Sun Y, Zhang F. Enhanced purification of kitchen-oil wastewater driven synergistically by surface microelectric fields and microorganisms. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 174:107878. [PMID: 36963154 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 02/12/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The stable structure and toxic effect of refractory organic pollutants in wastewater lead to the problem of high energy consumption in water treatment technology. Herein, we propose a synergistic purification of refractory wastewater driven by microorganisms and surface microelectric fields (SMEF) over a dual-reaction-center (DRC) catalyst HCLL-S8-M prepared by an in situ growth method of carbon nitride on the Cu-Al2O3 surface. Characterization techniques demonstrate the successful construction of SMEF with strong electrostatic force over HCLL-S8-M based on cation-π interactions between metal copper ions and carbon nitride rings. With the catalyst as the core filler, an innovative fixed bed bioreactor is constructed to purify the actual kitchen-oil wastewater. The removal efficiency of the wastewater even with a very low biodegradability (BOD5/COD = 0.33) can reach 60% after passing through this bioreactor. An innovative reaction mechanism is revealed for the first time that under the condition of a small amount of biodegradable organic matter, the SMEF induces the enrichment of electric active microorganisms (Desulfobulbus and Geobacter) in the wastewater, accelerates the interspecies electron transfer of intertrophic metabolism with the biodegradable bacteria through the extracellular electron transfer mechanism such as cytochrome C and self-secreted electron shuttle. The electrons of the refractory organic pollutants adsorbed on the surface of the catalyst are delocalized by the SMEF, which can be directly utilized by microorganisms through EPS conduction. The SMEF generated by electron polarization can maximize the utilization of pollutants and microorganisms in wastewater and further enhance degradation without adding any external energy, which is of great significance to the development of water self-purification technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Zhang
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Lai Lyu
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Chun Hu
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Tong Ren
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Fan Li
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yuhao Shi
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Muen Han
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yingtao Sun
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Fagen Zhang
- Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
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50
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Zhang Y, Wang Y, Tang M, Zhou J, Zhang T. The microbial dark matter and "wanted list" in worldwide wastewater treatment plants. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:59. [PMID: 36973807 PMCID: PMC10045942 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-023-01503-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are one of the largest biotechnology applications in the world and are of critical importance to modern urban societies. An accurate evaluation of the microbial dark matter (MDM, microorganisms whose genomes remain uncharacterized) proportions in WWTPs is of great value, while there is no such research yet. This study conducted a global meta-analysis of MDM in WWTPs with 317,542 prokaryotic genomes from the Genome Taxonomy Database and proposed a "wanted list" for priority targets in further investigations of activated sludge. RESULTS Compared with the Earth Microbiome Project data, WWTPs had relatively lower genome-sequenced proportions of prokaryotes than other ecosystems, such as the animal related environments. Analysis showed that the median proportions of the genome-sequenced cells and taxa (100% identity and 100% coverage in 16S rRNA gene region) in WWTPs reached 56.3% and 34.5% for activated sludge, 48.6% and 28.5% for aerobic biofilm, and 48.3% and 28.5% for anaerobic digestion sludge, respectively. This result meant MDM had high proportions in WWTPs. Besides, all of the samples were occupied by a few predominant taxa, and the majority of the sequenced genomes were from pure cultures. The global-scale "wanted list" for activated sludge contained four phyla that have few representatives and 71 operational taxonomic units with the majority of them having no genome or isolate yet. Finally, several genome mining methods were verified to successfully recover genomes from activated sludge such as hybrid assembly of the second- and third-generation sequencing. CONCLUSIONS This work elucidated the proportion of MDM in WWTPs, defined the "wanted list" of activated sludge for future investigations, and certified potential genome recovery methods. The proposed methodology of this study can be applied to other ecosystems and improve understanding of ecosystem structure across diverse habitats. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulin Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Yulin Wang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Mingxi Tang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - Jizhong Zhou
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, and School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
| | - Tong Zhang
- Environmental Microbiome Engineering and Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China.
- Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China.
- Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China.
- Macau Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China.
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