Researchers developed a new method for detecting human fecal contamination in water using CrAss-like phages (CLPs). This method, based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR), is cost-effective, selective, and easy to perform.
The presence of human waste in sewage overflow or stormwater runoffs that ultimately find their way into rivers and lakes is a major public health hazard. As a result, it is imperative that water bodies and samples are continuously tested for the presence of human fecal contamination. Conventionally, testing for fecal contamination involves detecting fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as E. coli, by adding a drop of the sample water into a microbial culture medium.
While FIB detection is cheap and simple, the method cannot be used to detect low-level contamination. This method is also incapable of determining the source of the contamination. Microbial source tracking (MST) has the potential to overcome these challenges by detecting biomarkers-;usually a protein, DNA, or RNA segment-;that are specific to a host species. This allows MST to detect low-level contamination in wastewater, drinking water, lakes, etc., and identify the hosts, even when feces from multiple species are involved. CrAss-like phages (CLPs), a class of viruses that infect bacteria (bacteriophages), are being hailed as a promising group of MST markers. CLPs are the most abundant bacteriophages in the human gut, and many CLPs are only found in human intestines (and feces). While there are several known groups of CLPs, only a single group, known as genus I, has been used as an MST marker. This prompts questions about whether the other group CLPs also function as MST markers and their viability compared to genus I. Now, in a new study, Dr. Ok Kyung Koo and Dong Woo Kim from Chungnam National University, South Korea, in collaboration with Yang Jae Kang and Dong U Woo from Gyeongsang National University, developed a novel MST detection method using CLPs that was capable of specifically detecting human feces-contaminated water. The method uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect CLP DNA, making the method cost-effective, selective, and easy-to-perfor
Mircrobial Source Tracking Crass-Like Phages Water Contamination Human Feces PCR
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