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Badilla-Aguilar A, Hallack DMC, Ginn O, Snyder E, Bolster D, Tank JL, Bibby K. Streambed immobilization controls the transport of antibiotic resistance genes in flowing water. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 259:121833. [PMID: 38865913 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Revised: 05/10/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a serious global health issue, resulting in at least 1.2 million deaths in 2019. The environment is a potentially important reservoir of antibiotic resistance; however, the fate of Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) in the environment remains poorly characterized. One important environmental source of ARGs is manure used as a soil amendment. ARGs from manure may then enter nearby flowing waterbodies, where the factors governing their downstream transport remain unknown. To address this, we conducted experiments by spiking cattle manure in an artificial stream to estimate removal rates (k; m-1) for three ARGs (mefA, tetQ, and tetW) and a ruminant fecal marker (bacR). We then used a Stochastic Mobile-Immobile Model (SMIM) to separate the overall removal into two components, rs, and rh, corresponding to immobilizations in the surface (i.e., water column) and subsurface (i.e., streambed), respectively. Finally, we applied the SMIM across four model streams to predict the downstream travel distance of ARGs and bacR. Our results showed measurable removal for all targets in all experimental replicates (n = 3) and no differences were found in the removal rates among replicates for any target (ANCOVA; p > 0.05). We found that the removal of bacR was significantly lower than tetW (p < 0.05) and slightly lower than mefA (p = 0.088), while tetQ removal was slightly different from tetW's (p = 0.072). We also found that rh values were orders of magnitude larger than rs for ARGs and bacR (t-test; p < 0.05). These findings suggest that ARGs and bacR are being removed from the water column through immobilization reactions occurring in the streambed. Additionally, we predicted that the 90 % removal (or D90) of targets occurs within the first 500 m in all model streams except in a slow-flow pastoral stream, which required 1400 m of downstream transport for 90 % removal. Our findings and model stand out as promising tools to predict the fate of ARGs in streams and will contribute to improving and managing agricultural practices that employ animal manure.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Badilla-Aguilar
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - D M C Hallack
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - O Ginn
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA; School of Chemical, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - E Snyder
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA
| | - D Bolster
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - J L Tank
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA
| | - K Bibby
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
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Papadopoulos C, Larue AE, Toulouze C, Mokhtari O, Lefort J, Libert E, Assémat P, Swider P, Malaquin L, Davit Y. A versatile micromodel technology to explore biofilm development in porous media flows. LAB ON A CHIP 2024; 24:254-271. [PMID: 38059908 DOI: 10.1039/d3lc00293d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial biofilms that grow in porous media are critical to ecosystem processes and applications ranging from soil bioremediation to bioreactors for treating wastewater or producing value-added products. However, understanding and engineering the complex phenomena that drive the development of biofilms in such systems remains a challenge. Here we present a novel micromodel technology to explore bacterial biofilm development in porous media flows. The technology consists of a set of modules that can be combined as required for any given experiment and conveniently tuned for specific requirements. The core module is a 3D-printed micromodel where biofilm is grown into a perfusable porous substrate. High-precision additive manufacturing, in particular stereolithography, is used to fabricate porous scaffolds with precisely controlled architectures integrating flow channels with diameters down to several hundreds of micrometers. The system is instrumented with: ultraviolet-C light-emitting diodes; on-line measurements of oxygen consumption and pressure drop across the porous medium; camera and spectrophotometric cells for the detection of biofilm detachment events at the outlet. We demonstrate how this technology can be used to study the development of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm for several days within a network of flow channels. We find complex dynamics whereby oxygen consumption reaches a steady-state but not the pressure drop, which instead features a permanent regime with large fluctuations. We further use X-ray computed microtomography to image the spatial distribution of biofilms and computational fluid dynamics to link biofilm development with local flow properties. By combining the advantages of additive manufacturing for the creation of reproducible 3D porous microarchitectures with the flow control and instrumentation accuracy of microfluidics, our system provides a platform to study the dynamics of biofilm development in 3D porous media and to rapidly test new concepts in process engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christos Papadopoulos
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
- LAAS-CNRS, CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France
| | - Anne Edith Larue
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
- Transverse Lab, 271 rue des Fontaines, 31300 Toulouse, France
| | - Clara Toulouze
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
| | - Omar Mokhtari
- Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, Gesellschaftsstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Julien Lefort
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
| | - Emmanuel Libert
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
| | - Pauline Assémat
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
| | - Pascal Swider
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
| | - Laurent Malaquin
- LAAS-CNRS, CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France
| | - Yohan Davit
- Institut de Mécanique des Fluides (IMFT), CNRS & Université de Toulouse, 31400 Toulouse, France.
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Markale I, Carrel M, Kurz DL, Morales VL, Holzner M, Jiménez-Martínez J. Internal Biofilm Heterogeneities Enhance Solute Mixing and Chemical Reactions in Porous Media. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:8065-8074. [PMID: 37205794 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial biofilms can form in porous media that are of interest in industrial applications ranging from medical implants to biofilters as well as in environmental applications such as in situ groundwater remediation, where they can be critical locations for biogeochemical reactions. The presence of biofilms modifies porous media topology and hydrodynamics by clogging pores and consequently solutes transport and reactions kinetics. The interplay between highly heterogeneous flow fields found in porous media and microbial behavior, including biofilm growth, results in a spatially heterogeneous biofilm distribution in the porous media as well as internal heterogeneity across the thickness of the biofilm. Our study leverages highly resolved three-dimensional X-ray computed microtomography images of bacterial biofilms in a tubular reactor to numerically compute pore-scale fluid flow and solute transport by considering multiple equivalent stochastically generated internal permeability fields for the biofilm. We show that the internal heterogeneous permeability mainly impacts intermediate velocities when compared with homogeneous biofilm permeability. While the equivalent internal permeability fields of the biofilm do not impact fluid-fluid mixing, they significantly control a fast reaction. For biologically driven reactions such as nutrient or contaminant uptake by the biofilm, its internal permeability field controls the efficiency of the process. This study highlights the importance of considering the internal heterogeneity of biofilms to better predict reactivity in industrial and environmental bioclogged porous systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ishaan Markale
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Dorothee L Kurz
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Verónica L Morales
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5270, United States
| | - Markus Holzner
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- WSL, Swiss Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Joaquín Jiménez-Martínez
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
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Kurz DL, Secchi E, Stocker R, Jimenez-Martinez J. Morphogenesis of Biofilms in Porous Media and Control on Hydrodynamics. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 57:5666-5677. [PMID: 36976631 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c08890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The functioning of natural and engineered porous media, like soils and filters, depends in many cases on the interplay between biochemical processes and hydrodynamics. In such complex environments, microorganisms often form surface-attached communities known as biofilms. Biofilms can take the shape of clusters, which alter the distribution of fluid flow velocities within the porous medium, subsequently influencing biofilm growth. Despite numerous experimental and numerical efforts, the control of the biofilm clustering process and the resulting heterogeneity in biofilm permeability is not well understood, limiting our predictive abilities for biofilm-porous medium systems. Here, we use a quasi-2D experimental model of a porous medium to characterize biofilm growth dynamics for different pore sizes and flow rates. We present a method to obtain the time-resolved biofilm permeability field from experimental images and use the obtained permeability field to compute the flow field through a numerical model. We observe a biofilm cluster size distribution characterized by a spectrum slope evolving in time between -2 and -1, a fundamental measure that can be used to create spatio-temporal distributions of biofilm clusters for upscaled models. We find a previously undescribed biofilm permeability distribution, which can be used to stochastically generate permeability fields within biofilms. An increase in velocity variance for a decrease in physical heterogeneity shows that the bioclogged porous medium behaves differently than expected from studies on heterogeneity in abiotic porous media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothee L Kurz
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Laura-Hezner-Weg 7, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department Water Resources and Drinking Water, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Eleonora Secchi
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Laura-Hezner-Weg 7, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Roman Stocker
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Laura-Hezner-Weg 7, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Joaquin Jimenez-Martinez
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Laura-Hezner-Weg 7, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department Water Resources and Drinking Water, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
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