Analysis of Microbial Communities and Pathogen Detection in Domestic Sewage Using Metagenomic Sequencing

Muhammad Yasir

doi:10.3390/d13010006

Abstract

Wastewater contains diverse microbes, and regular microbiological screening at wastewater treatment plants is essential for monitoring the wastewater treatment and protecting environmental health. In this study, a metagenomic approach was used to characterize the microbial communities in the influent and effluent of a conventional domestic sewage treatment plant in the metropolitan city of Jeddah. Bacteria were the prevalent type of microbe in both the influent and effluent, whereas archaea and viruses were each detected at <1% abundance. Greater diversity was observed in effluent bacterial populations compared with influent, despite containing similar major taxa. These taxa consisted primarily of Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Metagenomic analysis provided broad profiles of 87 pathogenic/opportunistic bacteria belonging to 47 distinct genera in the domestic sewage samples, with most having <1% abundance. The archaea community included 20 methanogenic genera. The virus-associated sequences were classified mainly into the families Myoviridae, Siphoviridae, and Podoviridae. Genes related to resistance to antibiotics and toxic compounds, gram-negative cell wall components, and flagellar motility in prokaryotes identified in metagenomes from both types of samples. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of microbial communities in influent and effluent samples of a conventional domestic sewage treatment plant and suggests that metagenomic analysis is a feasible approach for microbiological monitoring of wastewater treatment.

Highlights

The exponential growth of the world’s population along with urbanization and socioeconomic development has resulted in the generation of billions of tons of solid waste and wastewater every year [1]
This study provides a broad metagenomic analysis of the taxonomic and functional profile of microbial communities of influent and effluent from a conventional sewage treatment plant in Jeddah
The core bacterial community observed in this study showed similarity with the previously reported microflora of various conventional sewage treatment plants

Summary

Introduction

The exponential growth of the world’s population along with urbanization and socioeconomic development has resulted in the generation of billions of tons of solid waste and wastewater every year [1]. The natural water quality is adversely affected by sewage discharge because it drastically changes the physicochemical as well as microbial composition of freshwater sources [2,4,5,6]. Various types of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are used in different countries to improve the physicochemical and microbiological discharge quality of wastewater effluent [2,3,7,8]. Microbial community composition and diversity in treated water is shaped by both operating conditions and influent characteristics [3,9]. A 16S amplicon study of 14 urban WWTPs in four countries (United States, Canada, China, and Singapore) identified the bacterial genera Arcobacter, Aeromonas, Corynebacterium, and Clostridium in the majority of activated sludge, influent, and effluent samples [8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion