Blautia and Prevotella sequences distinguish human and animal fecal pollution in Brazil surface waters. Issue 6 (9th July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Koskey, Amber M.; Fisher, Jenny C.; Eren, A. Murat; Ponce‐Terashima, Rafael; Reis, Mitermayer G.; Blanton, Ronald E.; McLellan, Sandra L.
• Is Part Of: Environmental microbiology reports. Volume 6:Issue 6(2014)
• Page Start: 696
• Page End: 704
• Publication Date: 2014-07-09
• Subjects: Microbial ecology -- Periodicals; Environmental Microbiology -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 579.17
• DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.12189
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1758-2229

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Summary</title> <p>Untreated sewage discharges and limited agricultural manure management practices contribute to fecal pollution in rural Brazilian waterways. Most microbial source tracking studies have focused on <italic>Bacteroidales</italic>, and few have tested host‐specific indicators in underdeveloped regions. Sequencing of sewage and human and animal feces with Illumina HiSeq revealed <italic>Prevotellaceae</italic> as the most abundant family in humans, with <italic>Lachnospiraceae</italic> and <italic>Ruminococcaceae</italic> also comprising a large proportion of the microbiome. These same families were also dominant in animals. <italic>Bacteroides</italic>, the genus containing the most commonly utilized human‐specific marker in the United States was present in very low abundance. We used oligotyping to identify <italic>P</italic><italic>revotella</italic> and <italic>B</italic><italic>lautia</italic> sequences that can distinguish human fecal contamination. Thirty‐five of 61 <italic>B</italic><italic>lautia</italic> oligotypes and 13 of 108 <italic>Prevotella</italic> oligotypes in humans were host‐specific or highly abundant (i.e. host‐preferred) compared to pig, dog, horse and cow sources. Certain human <italic>P</italic><italic>revotella</italic> and <italic>B</italic><italic>lautia</italic> oligotypes increased more than an order of magnitude along a polluted river transect in rural Brazil, but traditional fecal indicator levels followed a steady or even decreasing trend. While both <italic>P</italic><italic>revotella</italic> and <italic>B</italic><italic>lautia</italic> oligotypes distinguished human and animal fecal pollution in Brazil surface waters, <italic>Blautia</italic> appears to contain more discriminatory and globally applicable markers for tracking sources of fecal pollution.</p> </abstract>