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Sudarshan AS, Dai Z, Gabrielli M, Oosthuizen-Vosloo S, Konstantinidis KT, Pinto AJ. New Drinking Water Genome Catalog Identifies a Globally Distributed Bacterial Genus Adapted to Disinfected Drinking Water Systems. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024. [PMID: 39235268 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c05086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/06/2024]
Abstract
Genome-resolved insights into the structure and function of the drinking water microbiome can advance the effective management of drinking water quality. To enable this, we constructed and curated thousands of metagenome-assembled and isolate genomes from drinking water distribution systems globally to develop a Drinking Water Genome Catalog (DWGC). The current DWGC disproportionately represents disinfected drinking water systems due to a paucity of metagenomes from nondisinfected systems. Using the DWGC, we identify core genera of the drinking water microbiome including a genus (UBA4765) within the order Rhizobiales that is frequently detected and highly abundant in disinfected drinking water systems. We demonstrate that this genus has been widely detected but incorrectly classified in previous amplicon sequencing-based investigations of the drinking water microbiome. Further, we show that a single genome variant (genomovar) within this genus is detected in 75% of drinking water systems included in this study. We propose a name for this uncultured bacterium as "Raskinella chloraquaticus" and describe the genus as "Raskinella" (endorsed by SeqCode). Metabolic annotation and modeling-based predictions indicate that this bacterium is capable of necrotrophic growth, is able to metabolize halogenated compounds, proliferates in a biofilm-based environment, and shows clear indications of disinfection-mediated selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashwin S Sudarshan
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Zihan Dai
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Marco Gabrielli
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dubendorf CH-8600, Switzerland
| | - Solize Oosthuizen-Vosloo
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Department of Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0084, South Africa
| | - Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Ameet J Pinto
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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Boehm AB, Raskin L, Alvarez P, Hong PY. Maximizing the Impact of Research Featuring Nucleic-Acid Sequencing Methods in Environmental Science & Technology and Environmental Science & Technology Letters. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2024; 58:8115-8116. [PMID: 38741572 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c03765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Alexandria B Boehm
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Lutgarde Raskin
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
| | - Pedro Alvarez
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University, and Rice Water Institute, Houston, Texas 77005, United States
| | - Pei-Ying Hong
- Environmental Science and Engineering Program, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE), KAUST, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
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Hegarty B, Riddell V J, Bastien E, Langenfeld K, Lindback M, Saini JS, Wing A, Zhang J, Duhaime M. Benchmarking informatics approaches for virus discovery: caution is needed when combining in silico identification methods. mSystems 2024; 9:e0110523. [PMID: 38376167 PMCID: PMC10949488 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.01105-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the ecological impacts of viruses on natural and engineered ecosystems relies on the accurate identification of viral sequences from community sequencing data. To maximize viral recovery from metagenomes, researchers frequently combine viral identification tools. However, the effectiveness of this strategy is unknown. Here, we benchmarked combinations of six widely used informatics tools for viral identification and analysis (VirSorter, VirSorter2, VIBRANT, DeepVirFinder, CheckV, and Kaiju), called "rulesets." Rulesets were tested against mock metagenomes composed of taxonomically diverse sequence types and diverse aquatic metagenomes to assess the effects of the degree of viral enrichment and habitat on tool performance. We found that six rulesets achieved equivalent accuracy [Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) = 0.77, Padj ≥ 0.05]. Each contained VirSorter2, and five used our "tuning removal" rule designed to remove non-viral contamination. While DeepVirFinder, VIBRANT, and VirSorter were each found once in these high-accuracy rulesets, they were not found in combination with each other: combining tools does not lead to optimal performance. Our validation suggests that the MCC plateau at 0.77 is partly caused by inaccurate labeling within reference sequence databases. In aquatic metagenomes, our highest MCC ruleset identified more viral sequences in virus-enriched (44%-46%) than in cellular metagenomes (7%-19%). While improved algorithms may lead to more accurate viral identification tools, this should be done in tandem with careful curation of sequence databases. We recommend using the VirSorter2 ruleset and our empirically derived tuning removal rule. Our analysis provides insight into methods for in silico viral identification and will enable more robust viral identification from metagenomic data sets. IMPORTANCE The identification of viruses from environmental metagenomes using informatics tools has offered critical insights in microbial ecology. However, it remains difficult for researchers to know which tools optimize viral recovery for their specific study. In an attempt to recover more viruses, studies are increasingly combining the outputs from multiple tools without validating this approach. After benchmarking combinations of six viral identification tools against mock metagenomes and environmental samples, we found that these tools should only be combined cautiously. Two to four tool combinations maximized viral recovery and minimized non-viral contamination compared with either the single-tool or the five- to six-tool ones. By providing a rigorous overview of the behavior of in silico viral identification strategies and a pipeline to replicate our process, our findings guide the use of existing viral identification tools and offer a blueprint for feature engineering of new tools that will lead to higher-confidence viral discovery in microbiome studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bridget Hegarty
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - James Riddell V
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Eric Bastien
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Kathryn Langenfeld
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA
| | - Morgan Lindback
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Jaspreet S. Saini
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Anthony Wing
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Jessica Zhang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Melissa Duhaime
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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Healy HG, Ehde A, Bartholow A, Kantor RS, Nelson KL. Responses of drinking water bulk and biofilm microbiota to elevated water age in bench-scale simulated distribution systems. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 2024; 10:7. [PMID: 38253591 PMCID: PMC10803812 DOI: 10.1038/s41522-023-00473-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Reductions in nonresidential water demand during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of understanding how water age impacts drinking water quality and microbiota in piped distribution systems. Using benchtop model distribution systems, we aimed to characterize the impacts of elevated water age on microbiota in bulk water and pipe wall biofilms. Five replicate constant-flow reactors were fed with municipal chloraminated tap water for 6 months prior to building closures and 7 months after. After building closures, chloramine levels entering the reactors dropped; in the reactor bulk water and biofilms the mean cell counts and ATP concentrations increased over an order of magnitude while the detection of opportunistic pathogens remained low. Water age, and the corresponding physicochemical changes, strongly influenced microbial abundance and community composition. Differential initial microbial colonization also had a lasting influence on microbial communities in each reactor (i.e., historical contingency).
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Greenwald Healy
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Aliya Ehde
- Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Alma Bartholow
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Rose S Kantor
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Kara L Nelson
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
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Abkar L, Moghaddam HS, Fowler SJ. Microbial ecology of drinking water from source to tap. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 908:168077. [PMID: 37914126 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/21/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
As drinking water travels from its source, through various treatment processes, hundreds to thousands of kilometres of distribution network pipes, to the taps in private homes and public buildings, it is exposed to numerous environmental changes, as well as other microbes living in both water and on surfaces. This review aims to identify the key locations and factors that are associated with changes in the drinking water microbiome throughout conventional urban drinking water systems from the source to the tap water. Over the past 15 years, improvements in cultivation-independent methods have enabled studies that allow us to answer such questions. As a result, we are beginning to move towards predicting the impacts of disturbances and interventions resulting ultimately in management of drinking water systems and microbial communities rather than mere observation. Many challenges still exist to achieve effective management, particularly within the premise plumbing environment, which exhibits diverse and inconsistent conditions that may lead to alterations in the microbiota, potentially presenting public health risks. Finally, we recommend the establishment of global collaborative projects on the drinking water microbiome that will enhance our current knowledge and lead to tools for operators and researchers alike to improve global access to high-quality drinking water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leili Abkar
- Civil Engineering Department, University of British Columbia, Canada.
| | | | - S Jane Fowler
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Canada.
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Cavallaro A, Rhoads WJ, Sylvestre É, Marti T, Walser JC, Hammes F. Legionella relative abundance in shower hose biofilms is associated with specific microbiome members. FEMS MICROBES 2023; 4:xtad016. [PMID: 37705999 PMCID: PMC10496943 DOI: 10.1093/femsmc/xtad016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Legionella are natural inhabitants of building plumbing biofilms, where interactions with other microorganisms influence their survival, proliferation, and death. Here, we investigated the associations of Legionella with bacterial and eukaryotic microbiomes in biofilm samples extracted from 85 shower hoses of a multiunit residential building. Legionella spp. relative abundance in the biofilms ranged between 0-7.8%, of which only 0-0.46% was L. pneumophila. Our data suggest that some microbiome members were associated with high (e.g. Chthonomonas, Vrihiamoeba) or low (e.g. Aquabacterium, Vannella) Legionella relative abundance. The correlations of the different Legionella variants (30 Zero-Radius OTUs detected) showed distinct patterns, suggesting separate ecological niches occupied by different Legionella species. This study provides insights into the ecology of Legionella with respect to: (i) the colonization of a high number of real shower hoses biofilm samples; (ii) the ecological meaning of associations between Legionella and co-occurring bacterial/eukaryotic organisms; (iii) critical points and future directions of microbial-interaction-based-ecological-investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessio Cavallaro
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - William J Rhoads
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Émile Sylvestre
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Thierry Marti
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Claude Walser
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Genetic Diversity Centre (GDC), ETH Zurich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Frederik Hammes
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
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