Development of microbial and chemical MST tools to identify the origin of the faecal pollution in bathing and shellfish harvesting waters in France

Abstract

The microbiological quality of coastal or river waters can be affected by faecal pollution from human or animal sources. An efficient MST (Microbial Source Tracking) toolbox consisting of several host-specific markers would therefore be valuable for identifying the origin of the faecal pollution in the environment and thus for effective resource management and remediation. In this multidisciplinary study, after having tested some MST markers on faecal samples, we compared a selection of 17 parameters corresponding to chemical (steroid ratios, caffeine, and synthetic compounds), bacterial (host-specific Bacteroidales, Lactobacillus amylovorus and Bifidobacterium adolescentis) and viral (genotypes I-IV of F-specific bacteriophages, FRNAPH) markers on environmental water samples (n = 33; wastewater, runoff and river waters) with variable Escherichia coli concentrations. Eleven microbial and chemical parameters were finally chosen for our MST toolbox, based on their specificity for particular pollution sources represented by our samples and their detection in river waters impacted by human or animal pollution; these were: the human-specific chemical compounds caffeine, TCEP (tri(2-chloroethyl)phosphate) and benzophenone; the ratios of sitostanol/coprostanol and coprostanol/(coprostanol+24-ethylcopstanol); real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) human-specific (HF183 and B. adolescentis), pig-specific (Pig-2-Bac and L. amylovorus) and ruminant-specific (Rum-2-Bac) markers; and human FRNAPH genogroup II.

Effects of Waste Disposal: Temporo-Spatial Patterns of Bacterial Community Composition on Oyster Farms in Estuary Regions of Bahia, Brazil

“…Our findings agree with (Gourmelon et al, 2010;Liang et al, 2015; as this tool can accurately simulate the distribution of site-related environmental parameters. Based on the weight of the variables, the study clearly revealed that production period and oyster culture technique type were significantly associated with microbiological quality.…”

“…Lantern nets should be used in deep water locations where strong currents are rare (Yang et al, 2006) and water renewal in these places is poor, especially in relation with contamination sources that may interfere with the sanitary quality of these animals. So legislation should also take into account several parameters like biological, chemical and physical parameters (Gourmelon et al, 2010;Santos et al, 2011;Silva et al, 2004).…”

“…For example, by means of an MCA analysis, it has been possible to point out the occurrence of an atypical event responsible for disrupting the seasonal cycle, but is responsible for the massive mortality of benthos on shellfish farms (Mazouni et al, 1996). This tool was used to identify the origin of fecal pollution in bathing and shellfish harvesting waters (Gourmelon et al, 2010), and the distribution patterns of foraminiferal assemblages in relation to trace metals, sediment grain size and calcium carbonate .…”

Relevance of Bacteroidales and F-Specific RNA Bacteriophages for Efficient Fecal Contamination Tracking at the Level of a Catchment in France

“…From 2011, the revised European Bathing Water Directive (7) additionally requires bathing water profiles to be established and the identification of any pollution sources, to ensure efficient water quality management. Over the last decade, a panel of host-associated markers, known as microbial source tracking (MST) markers, has been derived from enteric bacteria or viruses or from chemical products (3,10,35). Criteria required for an MST marker to be useful and reliable, and thus relevant for inclusion in an operational toolbox, include (i) high sensitivity and specificity to the targeted species, independent of geographic region, and (ii) the potential to offer a credible evidence-based description of the fecal loading in environmental waters that do not comply with quality standards (13).…”

Bifidobacterial Diversity and the Development of New Microbial Source Tracking Indicators

“…porcinum has been proposed as an MST marker for animal species (35). Some of these Bifidobacterium markers have been successfully applied in Europe and some parts of the United States (2,8,14,21,26,38).…”