Disinfection exhibits systematic impacts on the drinking water microbiome

Limiting microbial growth during drinking water distribution is achieved either by maintaining a disinfectant residual or through nutrient limitation without using a disinfectant. The impact of these contrasting approaches on the drinking water microbiome is not systematically understood. We use genome-resolved metagenomics to compare the structure, metabolic traits, and population genomes of drinking water microbiome samples from bulk drinking water across multiple full-scale disinfected and non-disinfected drinking water systems. Microbial communities cluster at the structural- and functional potential-level based on the presence/absence of a disinfectant residual. Disinfectant residual alone explained 17 and 6.5% of the variance in structure and functional potential of the drinking water microbiome, respectively, despite including multiple drinking water systems with variable source waters and source water communities and treatment strategies. The drinking water microbiome is structurally and functionally less diverse and variable across disinfected compared to non-disinfected systems. While bacteria were the most abundant domain, archaea and eukaryota were more abundant in non-disinfected and disinfected systems, respectively. Community-level differences in functional potential were driven by enrichment of genes associated with carbon and nitrogen fixation in non-disinfected systems and γ-aminobutyrate metabolism in disinfected systems likely associated with the recycling of amino acids. Genome-level analyses for a subset of phylogenetically-related microorganisms suggests that disinfection selects for microorganisms capable of using fatty acids, presumably from microbial decay products, via the glyoxylate cycle. Overall, we find that disinfection exhibits systematic selective pressures on the drinking water microbiome and may select for microorganisms able to utilize microbial decay products originating from disinfection-inactivated microorganisms. Video abstract.

NanoAmpli-Seq: a workflow for amplicon sequencing for mixed microbial communities on the nanopore sequencing platform

Background

Amplicon sequencing on Illumina sequencing platforms leverages their deep sequencing and multiplexing capacity but is limited in genetic resolution due to short read lengths. While Oxford Nanopore or Pacific Biosciences sequencing platforms overcome this limitation, their application has been limited due to higher error rates or lower data output.

Results

In this study, we introduce an amplicon sequencing workflow, i.e., NanoAmpli-Seq, that builds on the intramolecular-ligated nanopore consensus sequencing (INC-Seq) approach and demonstrate its application for full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing. NanoAmpli-Seq includes vital improvements to the INC-Seq protocol that reduces sample processing time while significantly improving sequence accuracy. The developed protocol includes chopSeq software for fragmentation and read orientation correction of INC-Seq consensus reads while nanoClust algorithm was designed for read partitioning-based de novo clustering and within cluster consensus calling to obtain accurate full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences.

Conclusions

NanoAmpli-Seq accurately estimates the diversity of tested mock communities with average consensus sequence accuracy of 99.5% for 2D and 1D² sequencing on the nanopore sequencing platform. Nearly all residual errors in NanoAmpli-Seq sequences originate from deletions in homopolymer regions, indicating that homopolymer aware base calling or error correction may allow for sequencing accuracy comparable to short-read sequencing platforms.

Staphylococcal species heterogeneity in the nasal microbiome following antibiotic prophylaxis revealed by tuf gene deep sequencing

BACKGROUND

Staphylococci are a major constituent of the nasal microbiome and a frequent cause of hospital-acquired infection. Antibiotic surgical prophylaxis is administered prior to surgery to reduce a patient's risk of postoperative infection. The impact of surgical prophylaxis on the nasal staphylococcal microbiome is largely unknown. Here, we report the species present in the nasal staphylococcal microbiome and the impact of surgical prophylaxis revealed by a novel culture independent technique. Daily nasal samples from 18 hospitalised patients, six of whom received no antibiotics and 12 of whom received antibiotic surgical prophylaxis (flucloxacillin and gentamicin or teicoplanin +/- gentamicin), were analysed by tuf gene fragment amplicon sequencing.

RESULTS

On admission to hospital, the species diversity of the nasal staphylococcal microbiome varied from patient to patient ranging from 4 to 10 species. Administration of surgical prophylaxis did not substantially alter the diversity of the staphylococcal species present in the nose; however, surgical prophylaxis did impact on the relative abundance of the staphylococcal species present. The dominant staphylococcal species present in all patients on admission was Staphylococcus epidermidis, and antibiotic administration resulted in an increase in species relative abundance. Following surgical prophylaxis, a reduction in the abundance of Staphylococcus aureus was observed in carriers, but not a complete eradication.

CONCLUSIONS

Utilising the tuf gene fragment has enabled a detailed study of the staphylococcal microbiome in the nose and highlights that although there is no change in the heterogeneity of species present, there are changes in abundance. The sensitivity of the methodology has revealed that the abundance of S. aureus is reduced to a low level by surgical prophylaxis and therefore reduces the potential risk of infection following surgery but also highlights that S. aureus does persist.

Extensive Modulation of the Fecal Metagenome in Children With Crohn's Disease During Exclusive Enteral Nutrition

OBJECTIVES

Exploring associations between the gut microbiota and colonic inflammation and assessing sequential changes during exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) may offer clues into the microbial origins of Crohn's disease (CD).

METHODS

Fecal samples (n=117) were collected from 23 CD and 21 healthy children. From CD children fecal samples were collected before, during EEN, and when patients returned to their habitual diets. Microbiota composition and functional capacity were characterized using sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and shotgun metagenomics.

RESULTS

Microbial diversity was lower in CD than controls before EEN (P=0.006); differences were observed in 36 genera, 141 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), and 44 oligotypes. During EEN, the microbial diversity of CD children further decreased, and the community structure became even more dissimilar than that of controls. Every 10 days on EEN, 0.6 genus diversity equivalents were lost; 34 genera decreased and one increased during EEN. Fecal calprotectin correlated with 35 OTUs, 14 of which accounted for 78% of its variation. OTUs that correlated positively or negatively with calprotectin decreased during EEN. The microbiota of CD patients had a broader functional capacity than healthy controls, but diversity decreased with EEN. Genes involved in membrane transport, sulfur reduction, and nutrient biosynthesis differed between patients and controls. The abundance of genes involved in biotin (P=0.005) and thiamine biosynthesis decreased (P=0.017), whereas those involved in spermidine/putrescine biosynthesis (P=0.031), or the shikimate pathway (P=0.058), increased during EEN.

CONCLUSIONS

Disease improvement following treatment with EEN is associated with extensive modulation of the gut microbiome.

Mycobacterial dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors identified using chemogenomic methods and in vitro validation

The lack of success in target-based screening approaches to the discovery of antibacterial agents has led to reemergence of phenotypic screening as a successful approach of identifying bioactive, antibacterial compounds. A challenge though with this route is then to identify the molecular target(s) and mechanism of action of the hits. This target identification, or deorphanization step, is often essential in further optimization and validation studies. Direct experimental identification of the molecular target of a screening hit is often complex, precisely because the properties and specificity of the hit are not yet optimized against that target, and so many false positives are often obtained. An alternative is to use computational, predictive, approaches to hypothesize a mechanism of action, which can then be validated in a more directed and efficient manner. Specifically here we present experimental validation of an in silico prediction from a large-scale screen performed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis. The two potent anti-tubercular compounds studied in this case, belonging to the tetrahydro-1,3,5-triazin-2-amine (THT) family, were predicted and confirmed to be an inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), a known essential Mtb gene, and already clinically validated as a drug target. Given the large number of similar screening data sets shared amongst the community, this in vitro validation of these target predictions gives weight to computational approaches to establish the mechanism of action (MoA) of novel screening hit.

Reagent and laboratory contamination can critically impact sequence-based microbiome analyses

Background

The study of microbial communities has been revolutionised in recent years by the widespread adoption of culture independent analytical techniques such as 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomics. One potential confounder of these sequence-based approaches is the presence of contamination in DNA extraction kits and other laboratory reagents.

Results

In this study we demonstrate that contaminating DNA is ubiquitous in commonly used DNA extraction kits and other laboratory reagents, varies greatly in composition between different kits and kit batches, and that this contamination critically impacts results obtained from samples containing a low microbial biomass. Contamination impacts both PCR-based 16S rRNA gene surveys and shotgun metagenomics. We provide an extensive list of potential contaminating genera, and guidelines on how to mitigate the effects of contamination.

Conclusions

These results suggest that caution should be advised when applying sequence-based techniques to the study of microbiota present in low biomass environments. Concurrent sequencing of negative control samples is strongly advised.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-014-0087-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.