Identifying potential introduced and natural sources of pollution in Delaware watersheds
Date
2024-12-17
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Abstract
Managing water quality with microbial impairment caused by Enterococcus poses unique challenges regarding the determination of fecal host origin. Most water monitoring is performed based on Enterococcus counts that neither detect the location of the introduction of pollution nor identify the type of contaminating Enterococcus. The use of sequenced-based microbial source tracking could allow for identification of fecal origin and potential remediation of pollution. The state of Delaware has numerous waterways with high microbial impairment from unknown sources, so we used sequence-based microbial source tracking to investigate potential microbial pollution in three watersheds with significant variation in land use and population density. In this study, we use a 16S rRNA sequence reference library of microbial communities from relevant fecal sources (wild animal, domestic animal, sediment, and septic/wastewater) to determine the most likely sources of microbial impairment in three Delaware watersheds. This study assigned sources of microbial contamination to mostly human-related sources (septic and wastewater) or unknown sources indicating that waste infrastructure may have a larger influence on microbial community structure in Delaware watersheds than previously considered. Our results suggest that long-term source tracking is valuable for ruling out native or domesticated animals as contributors to water pollution.
IMPORTANCE
Traditional microbial pollution monitoring utilizes specific fecal indicator bacteria that need to grow in the laboratory for detection. Here, we show the use of sequence information from whole microbial communities and an expanded reference library in microbial source tracking. Expanding the host detection range by including the whole microbial community may allow for a wider range of potential fecal origin identification even when specific fecal indicators are absent or in low concentration. We show that many Delaware waterways bear the signature of human influence compared to natural sources. In addition, the robust reference library built in this study can be used to conduct source tracking studies in the mid-Atlantic USA.
Description
This article was originally published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01958-24.
Copyright © 2024 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved (https://doi.org/10.1128/ASMCopyrightv2).
This article will be embargoed until 12/17/2025.
Keywords
microbial source tracking, amplicon sequencing, Delaware, mid-Atlantic, clean water and sanitation, life on land
Citation
Bowen M, Main CR, Farag IF, Biddle JF.2024.Identifying potential introduced and natural sources of pollution in Delaware watersheds. Appl Environ Microbiol90:e01958-24.https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01958-24