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 8548-8556Subject Categories
Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
DOI
10.1021/es304367t