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Bacterial release from pipe biofilm in a full-scale drinking water distribution system

Chan, Sandy LU ; Pullerits, Kristjan LU ; Keucken, Alexander LU ; Persson, Kenneth M. LU ; Paul, Catherine J. LU and Rådström, Peter LU (2019) In npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 5(1).
Abstract


Safe drinking water is delivered to the consumer through kilometres of pipes. These pipes are lined with biofilm, which is thought to affect water quality by releasing bacteria into the drinking water. This study describes the number of cells released from this biofilm, their cellular characteristics, and their identity as they shaped a drinking water microbiome. Installation of ultrafiltration (UF) at full scale in Varberg, Sweden reduced the total cell count to 1.5 × 10
3
± 0.5 × 10
... (More)


Safe drinking water is delivered to the consumer through kilometres of pipes. These pipes are lined with biofilm, which is thought to affect water quality by releasing bacteria into the drinking water. This study describes the number of cells released from this biofilm, their cellular characteristics, and their identity as they shaped a drinking water microbiome. Installation of ultrafiltration (UF) at full scale in Varberg, Sweden reduced the total cell count to 1.5 × 10
3
± 0.5 × 10
3
cells mL
−1
in water leaving the treatment plant. This removed a limitation of both flow cytometry and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, which have difficulties in resolving small changes against a high background cell count. Following installation, 58% of the bacteria in the distributed water originated from the pipe biofilm, in contrast to before, when 99.5% of the cells originated from the treatment plant, showing that UF shifts the origin of the drinking water microbiome. The number of bacteria released from the biofilm into the distributed water was 2.1 × 10
3
± 1.3 × 10
3
cells mL
−1
and the percentage of HNA (high nucleic acid) content bacteria and intact cells increased as it moved through the distribution system. DESeq2 analysis of 16S rRNA amplicon reads showed increases in 29 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), including genera identified as Sphingomonas, Nitrospira, Mycobacterium, and Hyphomicrobium. This study demonstrated that, due to the installation of UF, the bacteria entering a drinking water microbiome from a pipe biofilm could be both quantitated and described.

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; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
volume
5
issue
1
article number
9
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85062031612
  • pmid:30820334
ISSN
2055-5008
DOI
10.1038/s41522-019-0082-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d8a568af-5183-4e81-a445-b3899b8ba494
date added to LUP
2019-03-05 13:32:20
date last changed
2024-06-26 10:17:22
@article{d8a568af-5183-4e81-a445-b3899b8ba494,
  abstract     = {{<p><br>
                                                         Safe drinking water is delivered to the consumer through kilometres of pipes. These pipes are lined with biofilm, which is thought to affect water quality by releasing bacteria into the drinking water. This study describes the number of cells released from this biofilm, their cellular characteristics, and their identity as they shaped a drinking water microbiome. Installation of ultrafiltration (UF) at full scale in Varberg, Sweden reduced the total cell count to 1.5 × 10                             <br>
                            <sup>3</sup><br>
                                                          ± 0.5 × 10                             <br>
                            <sup>3</sup><br>
                                                          cells mL                             <br>
                            <sup>−1</sup><br>
                                                          in water leaving the treatment plant. This removed a limitation of both flow cytometry and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, which have difficulties in resolving small changes against a high background cell count. Following installation, 58% of the bacteria in the distributed water originated from the pipe biofilm, in contrast to before, when 99.5% of the cells originated from the treatment plant, showing that UF shifts the origin of the drinking water microbiome. The number of bacteria released from the biofilm into the distributed water was 2.1 × 10                             <br>
                            <sup>3</sup><br>
                                                          ± 1.3 × 10                             <br>
                            <sup>3</sup><br>
                                                          cells mL                             <br>
                            <sup>−1</sup><br>
                                                          and the percentage of HNA (high nucleic acid) content bacteria and intact cells increased as it moved through the distribution system. DESeq2 analysis of 16S rRNA amplicon reads showed increases in 29 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), including genera identified as Sphingomonas, Nitrospira, Mycobacterium, and Hyphomicrobium. This study demonstrated that, due to the installation of UF, the bacteria entering a drinking water microbiome from a pipe biofilm could be both quantitated and described.                         <br>
                        </p>}},
  author       = {{Chan, Sandy and Pullerits, Kristjan and Keucken, Alexander and Persson, Kenneth M. and Paul, Catherine J. and Rådström, Peter}},
  issn         = {{2055-5008}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{npj Biofilms and Microbiomes}},
  title        = {{Bacterial release from pipe biofilm in a full-scale drinking water distribution system}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41522-019-0082-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41522-019-0082-9}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}