Bacterial Community Analysis of Drinking Water Biofilms in Southern Sweden

Abstract

Next-generation sequencing of the V1–V2 and V3 variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene generated a total of 674,116 reads that described six distinct bacterial biofilm communities from both water meters and pipes. A high degree of reproducibility was demonstrated for the experimental and analytical work-flow by analyzing the communities present in parallel water meters, the rare occurrence of biological replicates within a working drinking water distribution system. The communities observed in water meters from households that did not complain about their drinking water were defined by sequences representing Proteobacteria (82–87%), with 22–40% of all sequences being classified as Sphingomonadaceae. However, a water meter biofilm community from a household with consumer reports of red water and flowing water containing elevated levels of iron and manganese had fewer sequences representing Proteobacteria (44%); only 0.6% of all sequences were classified as Sphingomonadaceae; and, in contrast to the other water meter communities, markedly more sequences represented Nitrospira and Pedomicrobium. The biofilm communities in pipes were distinct from those in water meters, and contained sequences that were identified as Mycobacterium, Nocardia, Desulfovibrio, and Sulfuricurvum. The approach employed in the present study resolved the bacterial diversity present in these biofilm communities as well as the differences that occurred in biofilms within a single distribution system, and suggests that next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons can show changes in bacterial biofilm communities associated with different water qualities.

Bacterial community changes in copper and PEX drinking water pipeline biofilms under extra disinfection and magnetic water treatment

“…While this approach has increased our knowledge regarding the bacterial diversity within WDS (Lührig et al . ; Revetta et al . ), DNA‐based studies cannot discriminate between active and dead bacteria.…”

“…Most drinking water sequencing-based studies have used the 16S rRNA gene as the target gene and DNA as the template molecule. While this approach has increased our knowledge regarding the bacterial diversity within WDS (L€ uhrig et al 2015;Revetta et al 2016), DNA-based studies cannot discriminate between active and dead bacteria. Alternatively, rRNA transcripts have recently been used as templates in NGS studies (Pitk€ anen et al 2013;Jalava et al 2014;Kapoor et al 2015;Inkinen et al 2016) as they provide information on the active fraction of microbial communities.…”

Characterization of Microbial Signatures From Advanced Treated Wastewater Biofilms

“…Characterization of community signatures can establish system benchmarks and provide information on how to improve membrane performance by controlling membrane fouling. Methods based on DNA have been used to identify and describe microbial communities in biofilms (Luhrig et al 2015, Rastogi & Sani 2011, Bereschenko et al 2010). However, more recent developments in DNA‐based next‐generation sequencing (NGS) offer more powerful, high‐throughput, culture‐independent results that provide a more complete, rapid, and accurate identification and characterization as well as functional capability of microbial communities (Proctor & Hammes 2015, Tan et al 2015).…”

Evaluation of bacterial transmission to the paranasal sinuses through sinus irrigation

“…17 Significant concentrations of potentially pathogenic bacteria have been discovered in the municipal water supply, including Mycobacteria, Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Corynebacterium, and Streptococcus species. 40 Mycobacteria are known to form biofilms in moist areas, such as showerheads and hot tubs, 17,39,41,42 and have been implicated in a study associating mycobacterial sinus infections with cultured mycobacteria from water faucets. 12 However, this study 12 was observational in nature and not designed to assess if these bacterial infections resulted from sinus irrigations using contaminated water.…”