Specific Detection of Arcobacter and Campylobacter Strains in Water and Sewage by PCR and Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate PCR and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques for detecting Arcobacter and Campylobacter strains in river water and wastewater samples. Both 16S and 23S rRNA sequence data were used to design specific primers and oligonucleotide probes for PCR and FISH analyses, respectively. In order to assess the suitability of the methods, the assays were performed on naturally and artificially contaminated samples and compared with the isolation of cells on selective media. The detection range of PCR and FISH assays varied between 1 cell/ml (after enrichment) to 10 3 cells/ml (without enrichment). According to our results, both rRNA-based techniques have the potential to be used as quick and sensitive methods for detection of campylobacters in environmental samples.

Quantification of Thermotolerant Campylobacter in Swiss Water Treatment Plants, by Real‐Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction

“…These results confirm observations made by others researchers in different countries (Arimi et aI., 1988;Betaieb and Jones, 1990;Moreno, Botella, Alonso, Ferrus, Hernandez, and Hernandez, 2003;Sahlstrom et al, 2004;Stampi et al, 1993).…”

“…Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been used successfully to detect Campylobaeter spp. (Moreno, Botella, Alonso, Ferrus, Hernandez, and Hernandez, 2003) in wastewater. However, that study did not provide quantitative levels of the pathogens in wastewater.…”

Arcobacter

“…There is an increasing body of literature detailing that Arcobacter is a consistent component of human sewage systems (Stampi et al, 1993(Stampi et al, , 1999Moreno et al, 2003;González et al, 2007Collado et al, 2008Collado et al, , 2010McLellan et al, 2010;Fisher et al, 2014;Merga et al, 2014;Banting et al, 2016;Webb et al, 2016b), likely able to replicate outside of a vertebrate host within the sewage infrastructure system and wastewater treatment plants Shanks et al, 2013, Fisher et al, 2014. This supports the observation of the levels of Arcobacter found in wastewater being much higher than expected based on human carriage rates.…”

Using high-throughput sequencing to assess the impacts of treated and untreated wastewater discharge on prokaryotic communities in an urban river

“…Campylobacteraceae was another dominant family in all untreated wastewater samples, two treated wastewater samples, and two river samples obtained from a wastewater discharge area. This family includes Arcobacter and Campylobacter which, along with other genera, may pose a significant public health concern (Moreno et al 2003). Campylobacter, for example, includes some of the most common human enteric pathogens (Frost 2001).…”