1
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Wei Y, Wu H, Zhang X, Liang Y, Shi D, Wang L, Li H, Yu H, Yang D, Zhou S, Chen T, Yang Z, Li J, Jin M. Comparative analysis of chlorine-resistant bacteria after chlorination and chloramination in drinking water treatment plants. J Hazard Mater 2024; 469:134075. [PMID: 38508114 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2023] [Revised: 02/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Chlorine-resistant bacteria (CRB) in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) jeopardize water quality and pose a potential risk to human health. However, the specific response of CRB to chlorination and chloramination remains uncharacterized. Therefore, we analyzed 16 S rRNA sequencing data from water samples before and after chlorination and chloramination taken between January and December 2020. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes dominated all finished water samples. After chloramination, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Methylobacterium, Ralstonia, and Sphingomonas were the dominant CRB, whereas Ralstonia, Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Enterococcus were prevalent after chlorination. Over 75% of the CRB e.g. Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Enterococcus were shared between the chlorination and chloramination, involving potentially pathogens, such as Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Notably, certain genera such as Faecalibacterium, Geobacter, and Megasphaera were enriched as strong CRB after chloramination, whereas Vogesella, Flavobacterium, Thalassolituus, Pseudoalteromonas, and others were enriched after chlorination according to LEfSe analysis. The shared CRB correlated with temperature, pH, and turbidity, displaying a seasonal pattern with varying sensitivity to chlorination and chloramination in cold and warm seasons. These findings enhance our knowledge of the drinking water microbiome and microbial health risks, thus enabling better infectious disease control through enhanced disinfection strategies in DWTPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yijun Wei
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Haiyan Wu
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Xudong Zhang
- Water Quality Monitoring Center of Tianjin Water Group Co. Ltd, Tianjin 300240, China
| | - Yongbing Liang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Danyang Shi
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Lin Wang
- Water Quality Monitoring Center of Tianjin Water Group Co. Ltd, Tianjin 300240, China
| | - Haibei Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Hongling Yu
- Water Quality Monitoring Center of Tianjin Water Group Co. Ltd, Tianjin 300240, China
| | - Dong Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Shuqing Zhou
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Tianjiao Chen
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Zhongwei Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Junwen Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China
| | - Min Jin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, China.
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2
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Zheng S, Li J, Yan W, Zhao W, Ye C, Yu X. Biofilm formation and antioxidation were responsible for the increased resistance of N. eutropha to chloramination for drinking water treatment. Water Res 2024; 254:121432. [PMID: 38461606 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2024] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
Chloramination is an effective strategy for eliminating pathogens from drinking water and repressing their regrowth in water distribution systems. However, the inevitable release of NH4+ potentially promotes nitrification and associated ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) contamination. In this study, AOB (Nitrosomona eutropha) were isolated from environmental water and treated with two disinfection stages (chloramine disinfection and chloramine residues) to investigate the occurrence mechanisms of AOB in chloramination. The results showed that N. eutropha had considerable resistance to monochloramine compared to Escherichia coli, whose inactivation rate constant was 19.4-fold lower. The higher resistance was attributed to high levels of extracellular polymer substances (EPS) in AOB, which contribute to AOB surviving disinfection and entering the distribution system. In AOB response to the chloramine residues stage, the respiratory activity of N. eutropha remained at a high level after three days of continuous exposure to high chloramine residue concentrations (0.5-1.5 mg/L). Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) suggested that the mechanism of N. eutropha tolerance involved a significantly high expression of the intracellular oxidative stress-regulating (sodB, txrA) and protein-related (NE1545, NE1546) genes. Additionally, this process enhanced EPS secretion and promoted biofilm formation. Adhesion predictions based on the XDLVO theory corroborated the trend of biofilm formation. Overall, the naturally higher resistance contributed to the survival of AOB in primary disinfection; the enhanced antioxidant response of surviving N. eutropha accompanied by biofilm formation was responsible for their increased resistance to the residual chloramines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shikan Zheng
- College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Jianguo Li
- College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Wanli Yan
- College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Wenya Zhao
- College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China
| | - Chengsong Ye
- College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China.
| | - Xin Yu
- College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Coastal Pollution Prevention and Control, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China.
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3
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Loi JX, Syutsubo K, Rabuni MF, Takemura Y, Aoki M, Chua ASM. Downflow sponge biofilm reactors for polluted raw water treatment: Performance optimisation, kinetics, and microbial community. Chemosphere 2024; 358:142156. [PMID: 38679172 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2024] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Water outages caused by elevated ammonium (NH4+-N) levels are a prevalent problem faced by conventional raw water treatment plants in developing countries. A treatment solution requires a short hydraulic retention time (HRT) to overcome nitrification rate limitation in oligotrophic conditions. In this study, the performance of polluted raw water treatment using a green downflow sponge biofilm (DSB) technology was evaluated. We operated two DSB reactors, DSB-1 and DSB-2 under different NH4+-N concentration ranges (DSB-1: 3.2-5.0 mg L-1; DSB-2: 1.7-2.6 mg L-1) over 360 days and monitored their performance under short HRT (60 min, 30 min, 20 min, and 15 min). The experimental results revealed vertical segregation of organic removal in the upper reactor depths and nitrification in the lower depths. Under the shortest HRT of 15 min, both DSB reactors achieved stable NH4+-N and chemical oxygen demand removal (≥95%) and produced minimal effluent nitrite (NO2--N). DSB system could facilitate complete NH4+-N oxidation to nitrate (NO3--N) without external aeration energy requirement. The 16S rRNA sequencing data revealed that nitrifying bacteria Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira in the reactor were stratified. Putative comammox bacteria with high ammonia affinity was successfully enriched in DSB-2 operating at a lower NH4+-N loading rate, which is advantageous in oligotrophic treatment. This study suggests that a high hydraulic rate DSB system with efficient ammonia removal could incorporate ammonia treatment capability into polluted raw water treatment process and ensure safe water supply in many developing countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Xing Loi
- Sustainable Process Engineering Centre, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
| | - Kazuaki Syutsubo
- Regional Environment Conservation Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan; Research Centre of Water Environment Technology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan.
| | - Mohamad Fairus Rabuni
- Sustainable Process Engineering Centre, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
| | - Yasuyuki Takemura
- Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Wakayama College, Gobo, Wakayama, 644-0023, Japan.
| | - Masataka Aoki
- Regional Environment Conservation Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan.
| | - Adeline Seak May Chua
- Sustainable Process Engineering Centre, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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4
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Chandra Sarker D, Bal Krishna KC, Ginige MP, Sathasivan A. Effective chloramine management without "burn" in biofilm affected nitrifying tanks using a low dose of copper. Chemosphere 2024; 354:141709. [PMID: 38484992 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.141709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
This paper highlights the potential to effectively inhibit nitrification and restore chloramine levels using a low copper concentration in a biofilm-affected (surface-to-volume ratio 16 m-1) continuous-flow laboratory-scale chloraminated system. High nitrite and low chloramine containing tanks are always recovered with chlorine "burn" by water utilities. The "burn" is not only costly and operationally complex, but also compromises the water quality, public health, and customer relations. A laboratory system comprising five reactors connected in series was operated. Each reactor simulated conditions typically encountered in full-scale systems. Low amount of copper (0.1-0.2 mg-Cu L-1) was dosed once per day into nitrified reactors. At any given time, only one reactor was dosed with copper. Not only inhibition of nitrification, chloramine decay associated with bulk water, biofilm and sediments also improved. However, the improvement was quicker and more significant when the influent to the reactor contained a high chloramine and a low nitrite concentration. Ammonia oxidising microbes exhibited resilience when exposed to low copper and chloramine concentrations for an extended period. Chloramine decay due to planktonic microbes and chemical reactions in bulk water decreased more rapidly than decay attributed to biofilm and sediments. The concept "biostable residual chlorine" explained how copper and chloramine can inhibit nitrification. Once nitrification was inhibited, the chloramine supplied from upstream effectively continued to suppress downstream nitrification, and this effect lasted more than 50 days even at 22 °C. The findings could be used to develop short-term copper dosing strategies and prevent negative impacts of nitrification and breakpoint chlorination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dipok Chandra Sarker
- Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia
| | - K C Bal Krishna
- School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - Maneesha P Ginige
- CSIRO Environment, 147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, WA, 6014, Australia
| | - Arumugam Sathasivan
- Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia; School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
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5
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Li J, Liao Q, Wang Y, Wang X, Liu J, Zha R, He JZ, Zhang M, Zhang W. Involvement of functional metabolism promotes the enrichment of antibiotic resistome in drinking water: Based on the PICRUSt2 functional prediction. J Environ Manage 2024; 356:120544. [PMID: 38471323 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2023] [Revised: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
Biofilters are the important source and sink of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) in the drinking water. Current studies generally ascribed the prevalence of BAR in biofilter from the perspective of gene behavior, i.e. horizontal gene transfer (HGT), little attentions have been paid on the ARGs carrier- ARB. In this study, we proposed the hypothesis that ARB participating in pollutant metabolism processes and becoming dominant is an important way for the enrichment of ARGs. To verify this, the antibiotic resistome and bacterial functional metabolic pathways of a sand filter was profiled using heterotrophic bacterial plate counting method (HPC), high-throughput qPCR, Illumina Hiseq sequencing and PICRUSt2 functional prediction. The results illustrated a significant leakage of ARB in the effluent of the sand filter with an average absolute abundance of approximately 102-103 CFU/mL. Further contribution analysis revealed that the dominant genera, such as Acinetobacter spp., Aeromonas spp., Elizabethkingia spp., and Bacillus spp., were primary ARGs hosts, conferring resistance to multiple antibiotics including sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline and β-lactams. Notably, these ARGs hosts were involved in nitrogen metabolism, including extracellular nitrate/nitrite transport and nitrite reduction, which are crucial in nitrification and denitrification in biofilters. For example, Acinetobacter spp., the dominant bacteria in the filter (relative abundance 69.97 %), contributed the majority of ARGs and 53.79 % of nitrite reduction function. That is, ARB can predominate by participating in the nitrogen metabolism pathways, facilitating the enrichment of ARGs. These findings provide insights into the stable presence of ARGs in biofilters from a functional metabolism perspective, offering a significant supplementary to the mechanisms of the emergence, maintenance, and transmission of BARin drinking water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiabing Li
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China
| | - Qiuyu Liao
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China
| | - Yun Wang
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China
| | - Xuansen Wang
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China
| | - Jinchi Liu
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China
| | - Ruibo Zha
- School of Cultural Tourism and Public Administration, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China
| | - Ji-Zheng He
- Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Sanming Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Fujian Normal University, Sanming 365002, China
| | - Menglu Zhang
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Sanming Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Fujian Normal University, Sanming 365002, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China.
| | - Weifang Zhang
- College of Environmental and Resource Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse (Fujian Normal University) Fuzhou 350117, China
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6
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Li H, Yu H, Liang Y, Zhang X, Yang D, Wang L, Shi D, Chen T, Zhou S, Yin J, Yang Z, Li J, Jin M. Extended chloramination significantly enriched intracellular antibiotic resistance genes in drinking water treatment plants. Water Res 2023; 232:119689. [PMID: 36739658 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.119689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Chloramination and chlorination are both strong barriers that prevent the transmission of potential pathogens to humans through drinking water. However, the comparative effects of chloramination and chlorination on the occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) remain unknown. Herein, the antibiotic resistome in water before and after chloramination or chlorination was analyzed through metagenomic sequencing and then verified through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). After the treatment of 90 min, chloramination led to higher enrichment of the total relative abundance of intracellular ARGs (iARGs) in water than chlorination, whereas chlorination facilitated the release of more extracellular ARGs (eARGs) than chloramination. According to redundancy and Pearson's analyses, the total concentration of the observed iARGs in the finished water exhibited a strong positive correlation with ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) concentration, presenting a linear upward trend with an increase in the NH4+-N concentration. This indicated that NH4+-N is a crucial driving factor for iARG accumulation during chloramination. iARG enrichment ceases if the duration of chloramination is shortened to 40 min, suggesting that shortening the duration would be a better strategy for controlling iARG enrichment in drinking water. These findings emphasized the potential risk of antibiotic resistance after extended chloramination, shedding light on the control of transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria through water by optimizing disinfection procedures in DWTPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haibei Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Hongling Yu
- Water Quality Monitoring Center of Tianjin Water Group Co. Ltd, Tianjin, 300240, China
| | - Yongbing Liang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Xudong Zhang
- Water Quality Monitoring Center of Tianjin Water Group Co. Ltd, Tianjin, 300240, China
| | - Dong Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Lin Wang
- Water Quality Monitoring Center of Tianjin Water Group Co. Ltd, Tianjin, 300240, China
| | - Danyang Shi
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Tianjiao Chen
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Shuqing Zhou
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Jing Yin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Zhongwei Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Junwen Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Min Jin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, Tianjin, 300050, China.
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7
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Gabrielli M, Dai Z, Delafont V, Timmers PHA, van der Wielen PWJJ, Antonelli M, Pinto AJ. Identifying Eukaryotes and Factors Influencing Their Biogeography in Drinking Water Metagenomes. Environ Sci Technol 2023; 57:3645-3660. [PMID: 36827617 PMCID: PMC9996835 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The biogeography of eukaryotes in drinking water systems is poorly understood relative to that of prokaryotes or viruses, limiting the understanding of their role and management. A challenge with studying complex eukaryotic communities is that metagenomic analysis workflows are currently not as mature as those that focus on prokaryotes or viruses. In this study, we benchmarked different strategies to recover eukaryotic sequences and genomes from metagenomic data and applied the best-performing workflow to explore the factors affecting the relative abundance and diversity of eukaryotic communities in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs). We developed an ensemble approach exploiting k-mer- and reference-based strategies to improve eukaryotic sequence identification and identified MetaBAT2 as the best-performing binning approach for their clustering. Applying this workflow to the DWDS metagenomes showed that eukaryotic sequences typically constituted small proportions (i.e., <1%) of the overall metagenomic data with higher relative abundances in surface water-fed or chlorinated systems with high residuals. The α and β diversities of eukaryotes were correlated with those of prokaryotic and viral communities, highlighting the common role of environmental/management factors. Finally, a co-occurrence analysis highlighted clusters of eukaryotes whose members' presence and abundance in DWDSs were affected by disinfection strategies, climate conditions, and source water types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Gabrielli
- Dipartimento
di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale—Sezione Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy
| | - Zihan Dai
- Research
Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Vincent Delafont
- Laboratoire
Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions (EBI), Equipe Microorganismes,
Hôtes, Environnements, Université
de Poitiers, Poitiers 86073, France
| | - Peer H. A. Timmers
- KWR
Watercycle Research Institute, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
- Department
of Microbiology, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Paul W. J. J. van der Wielen
- KWR
Watercycle Research Institute, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
- Laboratory
of Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Manuela Antonelli
- Dipartimento
di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale—Sezione Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20133, Italy
| | - Ameet J. Pinto
- School
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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8
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Gu Q, Ma J, Zhang J, Guo W, Wu H, Sun M, Wang J, Wei X, Zhang Y, Chen M, Xue L, Ding Y, Wu Q. Nitrogen-metabolising microorganism analysis in rapid sand filters from drinking water treatment plant. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2023; 30:29458-29475. [PMID: 36417065 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-23963-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Sand filters (SFs) are common treatment processes for nitrogen pollutant removal in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs). However, the mechanisms on the nitrogen-cycling role of SFs are still unclear. In this study, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to characterise the diversity and composition of the bacterial community in SFs from DWTPs. Additionally, metagenomics approach was used to determine the functional microorganisms involved in nitrogen cycle in SFs. Our results showed that Pseudomonadota, Acidobacteria, Nitrospirae and Chloroflexi dominated in SFs. Subsequently, 85 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were retrieved from metagenome datasets of selected SFs involving nitrification, assimilatory nitrogen reduction, denitrification and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) processes. Read mapping to reference genomes of Nitrospira and the phylogenetic tree of the ammonia monooxygenase subunit A gene, amoA, suggested that Nitrospira is abundantly found in SFs. Furthermore, according to their genetic content, a nitrogen metabolic model in SFs was proposed using representative MAGs and pure culture isolate. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) showed that ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA), and complete ammonia oxidisers (comammox) were ubiquitous in the SFs, with the abundance of comammox being higher than that of AOA and AOB. Moreover, we identified a bacterial strain with a high NO3-N removal rate as Pseudomonas sp. DW-5, which could be applied in the bioremediation of micro-polluted drinking water sources. Our study provides insights into functional nitrogen-metabolising microbes in SFs of DWTPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qihui Gu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun Ma
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, 710021, People's Republic of China
| | - Jumei Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Weipeng Guo
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Huiqing Wu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Ming Sun
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Juan Wang
- College of Food Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510640, People's Republic of China
| | - Xianhu Wei
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Youxiong Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Montong Chen
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Liang Xue
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China
| | - Yu Ding
- Department of Food Science & Technology, Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jinan University, Huangpu Ave. 601, Guangzhou, 510632, People's Republic of China
| | - Qingping Wu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510070, People's Republic of China.
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9
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Vosloo S, Huo L, Chauhan U, Cotto I, Gincley B, Vilardi KJ, Yoon B, Bian K, Gabrielli M, Pieper KJ, Stubbins A, Pinto AJ. Gradual Recovery of Building Plumbing-Associated Microbial Communities after Extended Periods of Altered Water Demand during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Environ Sci Technol 2023; 57:3248-3259. [PMID: 36795589 PMCID: PMC9969676 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic-related building restrictions heightened drinking water microbiological safety concerns post-reopening due to the unprecedented nature of commercial building closures. Starting with phased reopening (i.e., June 2020), we sampled drinking water for 6 months from three commercial buildings with reduced water usage and four occupied residential households. Samples were analyzed using flow cytometry and full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing along with comprehensive water chemistry characterization. Prolonged building closures resulted in 10-fold higher microbial cell counts in the commercial buildings [(2.95 ± 3.67) × 105 cells mL-1] than in residential households [(1.11 ± 0.58) × 104 cells mL-1] with majority intact cells. While flushing reduced cell counts and increased disinfection residuals, microbial communities in commercial buildings remained distinct from those in residential households on the basis of flow cytometric fingerprinting [Bray-Curtis dissimilarity (dBC) = 0.33 ± 0.07] and 16S rRNA gene sequencing (dBC = 0.72 ± 0.20). An increase in water demand post-reopening resulted in gradual convergence in microbial communities in water samples collected from commercial buildings and residential households. Overall, we find that the gradual recovery of water demand played a key role in the recovery of building plumbing-associated microbial communities as compared to short-term flushing after extended periods of reduced water demand.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solize Vosloo
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Linxuan Huo
- School
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30318, United States
| | - Umang Chauhan
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Irmarie Cotto
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Benjamin Gincley
- School
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30318, United States
| | - Katherine J. Vilardi
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Bryan Yoon
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Kaiqin Bian
- School
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30318, United States
| | - Marco Gabrielli
- Dipartimento
di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale - Sezione Ambientale, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Kelsey J. Pieper
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Aron Stubbins
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 021115, United States
| | - Ameet J. Pinto
- School
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30318, United States
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10
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Zhu Z, Li X, Bu Q, Yan Q, Wen L, Chen X, Li X, Yan M, Jiang L, Chen G, Li S, Gao X, Zeng G, Liang J. Land-Water Transport and Sources of Nitrogen Pollution Affecting the Structure and Function of Riverine Microbial Communities. Environ Sci Technol 2023; 57:2726-2738. [PMID: 36746765 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c04705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The characterization of variations in riverine microbiota that stem from contaminant sources and transport modes is important for understanding biogeochemical processes. However, the association between complex anthropogenic nitrogen pollution and bacteria has not been extensively investigated owing to the difficulties faced while determining the distribution of nitrogen contaminants in watersheds. Here, we employed the Soil and Water Assessment Tool alongside microbiological analysis to explore microbial characteristics and their responses to complex nitrogen pollution patterns. Significant variations in microbial communities were observed in sub-basins with distinct land-water pollution transport modes. Point source-dominated areas (PSDAs) exhibited reduced microbial diversity, high number of denitrification groups, and increased nitrogen cycling compared with others. The negative relative deviations (-3.38) between the measured and simulated nitrate concentrations in PSDAs indicated that nitrate removal was more effective in PSDAs. Pollution sources were also closely associated with microbiota. Effluents from concentrated animal feeding operations were the primary factors relating to the microbiota compositions in PSDAs and balanced areas. In nonpoint source-dominated areas, contaminants from septic tanks become the most relevant sources to microbial community structures. Overall, this study expands our knowledge regarding microbial biogeochemistry in catchments and beyond by linking specific nitrogen pollution scenarios to microorganisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziqian Zhu
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Xin Li
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Qiurong Bu
- National Engineering Research Centre of Advanced Technologies and Equipment for Water Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Changsha 410205, P. R. China
| | - Qingcheng Yan
- National Engineering Research Centre of Advanced Technologies and Equipment for Water Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Changsha 410205, P. R. China
| | - Liqun Wen
- National Engineering Research Centre of Advanced Technologies and Equipment for Water Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Changsha 410205, P. R. China
| | - Xiaolei Chen
- National Engineering Research Centre of Advanced Technologies and Equipment for Water Environmental Pollution Monitoring, Changsha 410205, P. R. China
| | - Xiaodong Li
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Ming Yan
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Longbo Jiang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Gaojie Chen
- School of Mathematics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Shuai Li
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Xiang Gao
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Guangming Zeng
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
| | - Jie Liang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
- Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, P. R. China
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11
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Gomez-Alvarez V, Siponen S, Kauppinen A, Hokajärvi AM, Tiwari A, Sarekoski A, Miettinen IT, Torvinen E, Pitkänen T. A comparative analysis employing a gene- and genome-centric metagenomic approach reveals changes in composition, function, and activity in waterworks with different treatment processes and source water in Finland. Water Res 2023; 229:119495. [PMID: 37155494 PMCID: PMC10125003 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.119495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The emergence and development of next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) has made the analysis of the water microbiome in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) more accessible and opened new perspectives in microbial ecology studies. The current study focused on the characterization of the water microbiome employing a gene- and genome-centric metagenomic approach to five waterworks in Finland with different raw water sources, treatment methods, and disinfectant. The microbial communities exhibit a distribution pattern of a few dominant taxa and a large representation of low-abundance bacterial species. Changes in the community structure may correspond to the presence or absence and type of disinfectant residual which indicates that these conditions exert selective pressure on the microbial community. The Archaea domain represented a small fraction (up to 2.5%) and seemed to be effectively controlled by the disinfection of water. Their role particularly in non-disinfected DWDS may be more important than previously considered. In general, non-disinfected DWDSs harbor higher microbial richness and maintaining disinfectant residual is significantly important for ensuring low microbial numbers and diversity. Metagenomic binning recovered 139 (138 bacterial and 1 archaeal) metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that had a >50% completeness and <10% contamination consisting of 20 class representatives in 12 phyla. The presence and occurrence of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB)-like microorganisms have significant implications for nitrogen biotransformation in drinking water systems. The metabolic and functional complexity of the microbiome is evident in DWDSs ecosystems. A comparative analysis found a set of differentially abundant taxonomic groups and functional traits in the active community. The broader set of transcribed genes may indicate an active and diverse community regardless of the treatment methods applied to water. The results indicate a highly dynamic and diverse microbial community and confirm that every DWDS is unique, and the community reflects the selection pressures exerted at the community structure, but also at the levels of functional properties and metabolic potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vicente Gomez-Alvarez
- Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26W. Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268, United States
- Corresponding author. (V. Gomez-Alvarez)
| | - Sallamaari Siponen
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Kuopio 70211, Finland
| | - Ari Kauppinen
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
| | - Anna-Maria Hokajärvi
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
| | - Ananda Tiwari
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00790, Finland
| | - Anniina Sarekoski
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00790, Finland
| | - Ilkka T. Miettinen
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
| | - Eila Torvinen
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Kuopio 70211, Finland
| | - Tarja Pitkänen
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00790, Finland
- Corresponding author at: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Kuopio 70701, Finland. (T. Pitkänen)
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12
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Bairoliya S, Goel A, Mukherjee M, Koh Zhi Xiang J, Cao B. Monochloramine Induces Release of DNA and RNA from Bacterial Cells: Quantification, Sequencing Analyses, and Implications. Environ Sci Technol 2022; 56:15791-15804. [PMID: 36215406 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c06632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Monochloramine (MCA) is a widely used secondary disinfectant to suppress microbial growth in drinking water distribution systems. In monochloraminated drinking water, a significant amount of extracellular DNA (eDNA) has been reported, which has many implications ranging from obscuring DNA-based drinking water microbiome analyses to posing potential health concerns. To address this, it is imperative for us to know the origin of the eDNA in drinking water. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model organism, we report for the first time that MCA induces the release of nucleic acids from both biofilms and planktonic cells. Upon exposure to 2 mg/L MCA, massive release of DNA from suspended cells in both MilliQ water and 0.9% NaCl was directly visualized using live cell imaging in a CellASIC ONIX2 microfluidic system. Exposing established biofilms to MCA also resulted in DNA release from the biofilms, which was confirmed by increased detection of eDNA in the effluent. Intriguingly, massive release of RNA was also observed, and the extracellular RNA (eRNA) was also found to persist in water for days. Sequencing analyses of the eDNA revealed that it could be used to assemble the whole genome of the model organism, while in the water, certain fragments of the genome were more persistent than others. RNA sequencing showed that the eRNA contains non-coding RNA and mRNA, implying its role as a possible signaling molecule in environmental systems and a snapshot of the past metabolic state of the bacterial cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sakcham Bairoliya
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798, Singapore
| | - Apoorva Goel
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Manisha Mukherjee
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798, Singapore
| | - Jonas Koh Zhi Xiang
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
| | - Bin Cao
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798, Singapore
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13
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Gu Q, Sun M, Lin T, Zhang Y, Wei X, Wu S, Zhang S, Pang R, Wang J, Ding Y, Liu Z, Chen L, Chen W, Lin X, Zhang J, Chen M, Xue L, Wu Q. Characteristics of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Full-Scale Drinking Water Treatment System Using Metagenomics and Culturing. Front Microbiol 2022; 12:798442. [PMID: 35273579 PMCID: PMC8902363 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.798442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The contamination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) may directly threaten human health. This study used a metagenomic approach to investigate the ARG profile in a drinking water treatment system (DWTS) in south China. In total, 317 ARG subtypes were detected; specifically, genes encoding bacitracin, multidrug, and sulfonamide were widely detected in the DWTS. Putative ARG hosts included Acidovorax (6.0%), Polynucleobacter (4.3%), Pseudomonas (3.4%), Escherichia (1.7%), and Klebsiella (1.5%) as the enriched biomarkers in the DWTS, which mainly carried bacitracin, beta-lactam, and aminoglycoside ARGs. From a further analysis of ARG-carrying contigs (ACCs), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most common pathogens among the 49 ACC pathogens in the DWTS. The metagenomic binning results demonstrated that 33 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were discovered in the DWTS; particularly, the MAG identified as S. maltophilia-like (bin.195) harbored the greatest number of ARG subtypes (n = 8), namely, multidrug (n = 6; smeD, semE, multidrug_transporter, mexE, semB, and smeC), beta-lactam (n = 1; metallo-beta-lactamase), and aminoglycoside [n = 1; aph(3’)-IIb]. The strong positive correlation between MGEs and ARG subtypes revealed a high ARG dissemination risk in the DWTS. Based on the pure-culture method, 93 isolates that belong to 30 genera were recovered from the DWTS. Specifically, multidrug-resistant pathogens and opportunistic pathogens such as P. aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, and S. maltophilia were detected in the DWTS. These insights into the DWTS’s antibiotic resistome indicated the need for more comprehensive ARG monitoring and management in the DWTS. Furthermore, more effective disinfection methods need to be developed to remove ARGs in DWTSs, and these findings could assist governing bodies in the surveillance of antibiotic resistance in DWTSs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qihui Gu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ming Sun
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Tao Lin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Youxiong Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xianhu Wei
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shi Wu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shuhong Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rui Pang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Juan Wang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yu Ding
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhenjie Liu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ling Chen
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wei Chen
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiuhua Lin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jumei Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Moutong Chen
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Liang Xue
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qingping Wu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Safety and Health, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
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14
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Xiang Y, Rene ER, Ma W. Enhanced bio-reductive degradation of fluoroglucocorticoids in the groundwater fluctuation zone by external electron donors: Performance, microbial community, and functional genes. J Hazard Mater 2022; 423:127015. [PMID: 34482082 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
This study evaluated the effectiveness of external electron donors on the bio-reductive degradation enhancement of fluoroglucocorticoids (FGCs) in the groundwater fluctuation zone during the wet season when reverse upward fluctuation of the groundwater table occurs and the dry season after the groundwater table declines. The results showed that the external electron donors, provided by the addition of nano zero-valent iron-modified biochar (nZVI@BC), inhibited the migration and enhanced the reductive defluorination of triamcinolone acetonide (TA), a representative FGC. The accumulation rate constant with temporal fluctuation depth and the attenuation rate constant with vertical fluctuation depth were -2.55 × 10-3 and 4.20 × 10-2, respectively, in the groundwater of the natural groundwater fluctuation zone (N-FZ). In contrast, the accumulation and attenuation rate constants were, respectively, 35.6% and 2.64 times higher in the groundwater fluctuation zone amended with nZVI@BC (nZVI@BC-FZ) as compared with those observed in the N-FZ. Furthermore, the decay rate constant of the TA residue in the dry season was 0.843 × 10-2 μg/d in N-FZ and was 2.19 times higher in nZVI@BC-FZ. This enhancement effect, caused by the addition of external electrons, was positively correlated with the evolution of the microbial community and the expression of functional genes. The microbes evolved into functional genera with reductive dehalogenation (Xylophilus and Hydrogenophaga) and iron-oxidizing (Lysobacter, Pseudoxanthomonas, and Sphingomonas) abilities in the nZVI@BC-FZ system, which increased dehalogenation and iron oxide genes by a 4-5 order of magnitude. The utilization proportion of external electrons for TA metabolism was 50.04%, of which 30.82%, 10.26%, and 8.96% were utilized for defluorination, hydrogenation, and ring-opening, respectively. This study provides an effective method to reduce pollutant diffusion and enhance the bio-reductive degradation caused by groundwater table fluctuation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yayun Xiang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Eldon R Rene
- Department of Water Supply, Sanitation and Environmental Engineering, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611AX Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Weifang Ma
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
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15
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Vosloo S, Huo L, Anderson CL, Dai Z, Sevillano M, Pinto A. Evaluating de Novo Assembly and Binning Strategies for Time Series Drinking Water Metagenomes. Microbiol Spectr 2021;:e0143421. [PMID: 34730411 DOI: 10.1128/Spectrum.01434-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Reconstructing microbial genomes from metagenomic short-read data can be challenging due to the unknown and uneven complexity of microbial communities. This complexity encompasses highly diverse populations, which often includes strain variants. Reconstructing high-quality genomes is a crucial part of the metagenomic workflow, as subsequent ecological and metabolic inferences depend on their accuracy, quality, and completeness. In contrast to microbial communities in other ecosystems, there has been no systematic assessment of genome-centric metagenomic workflows for drinking water microbiomes. In this study, we assessed the performance of a combination of assembly and binning strategies for time series drinking water metagenomes that were collected over 6 months. The goal of this study was to identify the combination of assembly and binning approaches that result in high-quality and -quantity metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), representing most of the sequenced metagenome. Our findings suggest that the metaSPAdes coassembly strategies had the best performance, as they resulted in larger and less fragmented assemblies, with at least 85% of the sequence data mapping to contigs greater than 1 kbp. Furthermore, a combination of metaSPAdes coassembly strategies and MetaBAT2 produced the highest number of medium-quality MAGs while capturing at least 70% of the metagenomes based on read recruitment. Utilizing different assembly/binning approaches also assists in the reconstruction of unique MAGs from closely related species that would have otherwise collapsed into a single MAG using a single workflow. Overall, our study suggests that leveraging multiple binning approaches with different metaSPAdes coassembly strategies may be required to maximize the recovery of good-quality MAGs. IMPORTANCE Drinking water contains phylogenetic diverse groups of bacteria, archaea, and eukarya that affect the esthetic quality of water, water infrastructure, and public health. Taxonomic, metabolic, and ecological inferences of the drinking water microbiome depend on the accuracy, quality, and completeness of genomes that are reconstructed through the application of genome-resolved metagenomics. Using time series metagenomic data, we present reproducible genome-centric metagenomic workflows that result in high-quality and -quantity genomes, which more accurately signifies the sequenced drinking water microbiome. These genome-centric metagenomic workflows will allow for improved taxonomic and functional potential analysis that offers enhanced insights into the stability and dynamics of drinking water microbial communities.
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16
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McDaniel EA, Wahl SA, Ishii S, Pinto A, Ziels R, Nielsen PH, McMahon KD, Williams RBH. Prospects for multi-omics in the microbial ecology of water engineering. Water Res 2021; 205:117608. [PMID: 34555741 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2021] [Revised: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and bioinformatics approaches over almost the last three decades have substantially increased our ability to explore microorganisms and their functions - including those that have yet to be cultivated in pure isolation. Genome-resolved metagenomic approaches have enabled linking powerful functional predictions to specific taxonomical groups with increasing fidelity. Additionally, related developments in both whole community gene expression surveys and metabolite profiling have permitted for direct surveys of community-scale functions in specific environmental settings. These advances have allowed for a shift in microbiome science away from descriptive studies and towards mechanistic and predictive frameworks for designing and harnessing microbial communities for desired beneficial outcomes. Water engineers, microbiologists, and microbial ecologists studying activated sludge, anaerobic digestion, and drinking water distribution systems have applied various (meta)omics techniques for connecting microbial community dynamics and physiologies to overall process parameters and system performance. However, the rapid pace at which new omics-based approaches are developed can appear daunting to those looking to apply these state-of-the-art practices for the first time. Here, we review how modern genome-resolved metagenomic approaches have been applied to a variety of water engineering applications from lab-scale bioreactors to full-scale systems. We describe integrated omics analysis across engineered water systems and the foundations for pairing these insights with modeling approaches. Lastly, we summarize emerging omics-based technologies that we believe will be powerful tools for water engineering applications. Overall, we provide a framework for microbial ecologists specializing in water engineering to apply cutting-edge omics approaches to their research questions to achieve novel functional insights. Successful adoption of predictive frameworks in engineered water systems could enable more economically and environmentally sustainable bioprocesses as demand for water and energy resources increases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A McDaniel
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
| | | | - Shun'ichi Ishii
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Super-cutting-edge Grand and Advanced Research (SUGAR) Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan
| | - Ameet Pinto
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ryan Ziels
- Department of Civil Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Katherine D McMahon
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Rohan B H Williams
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
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17
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Gomez-Alvarez V, Liu H, Pressman JG, Wahman DG. Metagenomic Profile of Microbial Communities in a Drinking Water Storage Tank Sediment after Sequential Exposure to Monochloramine, Free Chlorine, and Monochloramine. ACS ES T Water 2021; 1:1283-1294. [PMID: 34337601 PMCID: PMC8318090 DOI: 10.1021/acsestwater.1c00016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Sediment accumulation in drinking water storage facilities may lead to water quality degradation, including biological growth and disinfectant decay. The current research evaluated the microbiome present in a sediment after sequential exposure to monochloramine, free chlorine, and monochloramine. Chemical profiles within the sediment based on microelectrodes showed evidence of nitrification, and monochloramine slowly penetrated the sediment but was not measurable at lower depths. A metagenomic approach was used to characterize the microbial communities and functional potential of top (0-1 cm) and bottom (1-2 cm) layers in sediment cores. Differential abundance analysis revealed both an enrichment and depletion associated with depth of microbial populations. We assembled 30 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) representing bacterial and archaeal microorganisms. Most metabolic functions were represented in both layers, suggesting the capability of the microbiomes to respond to environmental fluctuations. However, niche-specific abundance differences were identified in biotransformation processes (e.g., nitrogen). Metagenome-level analyses indicated that nitrification and denitrification can potentially occur simultaneously in the sediments, but the exact location of their occurrence within the sediment will depend on the localized physicochemical conditions. Even though monochloramine was maintained in the bulk water there was limited penetration into the sediment, and the microbial community remained functionally diverse and active.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vicente Gomez-Alvarez
- Center for Environmental Solutions & Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268, United States
| | - Hong Liu
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Post-Doctoral Fellow at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268, United States
| | - Jonathan G Pressman
- Center for Environmental Solutions & Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268, United States
| | - David G Wahman
- Center for Environmental Solutions & Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268, United States
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18
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Rosales E, Del Olmo G, Calero Preciado C, Douterelo I. Phosphate Dosing in Drinking Water Distribution Systems Promotes Changes in Biofilm Structure and Functional Genetic Diversity. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:599091. [PMID: 33391216 PMCID: PMC7773730 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.599091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Water utilities treat drinking water by adding phosphate to prevent metal dissolution from water pipe work systems and particularly lead poisoning. Phosphate can be a limiting nutrient for microbial biofilms in DWDS, yet its effects on these microbial consortia are not well understood. This research presents results from phosphate dosing experiments using a real scale chlorinated DWDS, comparing standard phosphate concentrations of United Kingdom drinking water (1 mgP/L) with a double dose (2 mgP/L) commonly used in plumbosolvency treatment. Biofilm development during phosphate treatment experiments was monitored using a holistic approach by combining metagenomics analysis, flow cytometry and SEM characterisation. The increase of phosphate levels in drinking water, reduced biofilm cell numbers and promoted the presence of poorly distributed biofilms on inner pipe surfaces. Metagenomics analysis using genetic markers (16S rRNA and ITS2) showed that phosphate influenced biofilm community structure, particularly fungal composition. Whole metagenome sequencing showed that phosphate enrichment favoured the presence of sequencing reads associated to ATPases, ion transporters and DNA-interacting proteins, whilst reads associated to nitrogen metabolism were predominant in control samples. This research brings new knowledge regarding the influence of phosphate treatment on the composition and structure of biofilms within DWDS, and the implications that this might have for the management of these systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Rosales
- Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Gonzalo Del Olmo
- Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Carolina Calero Preciado
- Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Isabel Douterelo
- Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
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