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Stach TL, Sieber G, Shah M, Simon SA, Soares A, Bornemann TLV, Plewka J, Künkel J, Becker C, Meyer F, Boenigk J, Probst AJ. Temporal disturbance of a model stream ecosystem by high microbial diversity from treated wastewater. Microbiologyopen 2023; 12:e1347. [PMID: 37186231 PMCID: PMC10012233 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Microbial communities in freshwater streams play an essential role in ecosystem functioning via biogeochemical cycling. Yet, the impacts of treated wastewater influx into stream ecosystems on microbial strain diversity remain mostly unexplored. Here, we coupled full‐length 16S ribosomal RNA gene Nanopore sequencing and strain‐resolved metagenomics to investigate the impact of treated wastewater on a mesocosm system (AquaFlow) run with restored river water. Over 10 days, community Bray–Curtis dissimilarities between treated and control mesocosm decreased (0.57 ± 0.058 to 0.26 ± 0.046) based on ribosomal protein S3 gene clustering, finally converging to nearly identical communities. Similarly, strain‐resolved metagenomics revealed a high diversity of bacteria and viruses after the introduction of treated wastewater; these microbes also decreased over time resulting in the same strain clusters in control and treatment at the end of the experiment. Specifically, 39.2% of viral strains detected in all samples were present after the introduction of treated wastewater only. Although bacteria present at low abundance in the treated wastewater introduced additional antibiotic resistance genes, signals of naturally occurring ARG‐encoding organisms resembled the resistome at the endpoint. Our results suggest that the previously stressed freshwater stream and its microbial community are resilient to a substantial introduction of treated wastewater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom L. Stach
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Guido Sieber
- Department of BiodiversityUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Manan Shah
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany,Department of BiodiversityUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Sophie A. Simon
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - André Soares
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Till L. V. Bornemann
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Julia Plewka
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Julian Künkel
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | | | - Folker Meyer
- Institute for Artificial IntelligenceUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Jens Boenigk
- Department of BiodiversityUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany,Centre of Water and Environmental Research (ZWU)University of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
| | - Alexander J. Probst
- Environmental Metagenomics, Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of ChemistryUniversity of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany,Centre of Water and Environmental Research (ZWU)University of Duisburg‐EssenEssenGermany
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Kodera SM, Sharma A, Martino C, Dsouza M, Grippo M, Lutz HL, Knight R, Gilbert JA, Negri C, Allard SM. Microbiome response in an urban river system is dominated by seasonality over wastewater treatment upgrades. ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOME 2023; 18:10. [PMID: 36805022 PMCID: PMC9938989 DOI: 10.1186/s40793-023-00470-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Microorganisms such as coliform-forming bacteria are commonly used to assess freshwater quality for drinking and recreational use. However, such organisms do not exist in isolation; they exist within the context of dynamic, interactive microbial communities which vary through space and time. Elucidating spatiotemporal microbial dynamics is imperative for discriminating robust community changes from ephemeral ecological trends, and for improving our overall understanding of the relationship between microbial communities and ecosystem health. We conducted a seven-year (2013-2019) microbial time-series investigation in the Chicago Area Waterways (CAWS): an urban river system which, in 2016, experienced substantial upgrades to disinfection processes at two wastewater reclamation plants (WRPs) that discharge into the CAWS and improved stormwater capture, to improve river water quality and reduce flooding. Using culture-independent and culture-dependent approaches, we compared CAWS microbial ecology before and after the intervention. RESULTS Examinations of time-resolved beta distances between WRP-adjacent sites showed that community similarity measures were often consistent with the spatial orientation of site locations to one another and to the WRP outfalls. Fecal coliform results suggested that upgrades reduced coliform-associated bacteria in the effluent and the downstream river community. However, examinations of whole community changes through time suggest that the upgrades did little to affect overall riverine community dynamics, which instead were overwhelmingly driven by yearly patterns consistent with seasonality. CONCLUSIONS This study presents a systematic effort to combine 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing with traditional culture-based methods to evaluate the influence of treatment innovations and systems upgrades on the microbiome of the Chicago Area Waterway System, representing the longest and most comprehensive characterization of the microbiome of an urban waterway yet attempted. We found that the systems upgrades were successful in improving specific water quality measures immediately downstream of wastewater outflows. Additionally, we found that the implementation of the water quality improvement measures to the river system did not disrupt the overall dynamics of the downstream microbial community, which remained heavily influenced by seasonal trends. Such results emphasize the dynamic nature of microbiomes in open environmental systems such as the CAWS, but also suggest that the seasonal oscillations remain consistent even when perturbed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sho M Kodera
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Anukriti Sharma
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Cameron Martino
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Mark Grippo
- Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Holly L Lutz
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Rob Knight
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Center for Microbiome Innovation, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jack A Gilbert
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Center for Microbiome Innovation, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| | - Cristina Negri
- Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago, Lemont, IL, USA.
| | - Sarah M Allard
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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