Performance Characteristics of qPCR Assays Targeting Human- and Ruminant-Associated Bacteroidetes for Microbial Source Tracking across Sixteen Countries on Six Continents
Journal article, 2013

Numerous quantitative PCR assays for microbial fecal source tracking (MST) have been developed and evaluated in recent years. Widespread application has been hindered by a lack of knowledge regarding the geographical stability and hence applicability of such methods beyond the regional level. This study assessed the performance of five previously reported quantitative PCR assays targeting human-, cattle-, or ruminant-associated Bacteroidetes populations on 280 human and animal fecal samples from 16 countries across six continents. The tested cattle-associated markers were shown to be ruminant-associated. The quantitative distributions of marker concentrations in target and nontarget samples proved to be essential for the assessment of assay performance and were used to establish a new metric for quantitative source-specificity. In general, this study demonstrates that stable target populations required for marker-based MST occur around the globe. Ruminant-associated marker concentrations were strongly correlated with total intestinal Bacteroidetes populations and with each other, indicating that the detected ruminant-associated populations seem to be part of the intestinal core microbiome of ruminants worldwide. Consequently tested ruminant-targeted assays appear to be suitable quantitative MST tools beyond the regional level while the targeted human-associated populations seem to be less prevalent and stable, suggesting potential for improvements in human-targeted methods.

alters

real-time pcr

contamination

sewage

bovine fecal pollution

quantitative pcr

water

evolution

genetic-markers

ecology

Author

G. H. Reischer

Interuniversity Cooperation Centre for Water and Health

Vienna University of Technology

J. E. Ebdon

University of Brighton

J. M. Bauer

Vienna University of Technology

N. Schuster

Vienna University of Technology

W. Ahmed

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Johan Åström

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Water Environment Technology

A. R. Blanch

University of Barcelona

G. Bloschl

Vienna University of Technology

D. Byamukama

Makerere University

T. Coakley

University of Kentucky

C. Ferguson

ALS Water Sciences Group

G. Goshu

Bahar Dar University

G. Ko

Seoul National University

A. M. D. Husman

Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment

D. Mushi

Sokoine University of Agriculture

R. Poma

National University of Salta

B. Pradhan

Tribhuvan University

V. Rajal

National University of Salta

M. A. Schade

Bavarian Environment Agency

R. Sommer

Interuniversity Cooperation Centre for Water and Health

Medical University of Vienna

H. Taylor

University of Brighton

E. M. Toth

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

V. Vrajmasu

Veterinary State Laboratory

S. Wuertz

University of California

R. L. Mach

Vienna University of Technology

A. H. Farnleitner

Interuniversity Cooperation Centre for Water and Health

Vienna University of Technology

Environmental Science & Technology

0013-936X (ISSN) 1520-5851 (eISSN)

Vol. 47 15 8548-8556

Subject Categories

Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

DOI

10.1021/es304367t

More information

Latest update

10/10/2023