Quantification of viable bacteria in wastewater treatment plants by using propidium monoazide combined with quantitative PCR(PMA-qPCR)  

作　　者：Dan Li Tiezheng Tong Siyu Zeng Yiwen Lin Shuxu Wu Miao He 

机构地区：[1]Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University [2]Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control State Key Joint Laboratory, School of Environment, Tsinghua University

出　　处：《Journal of Environmental Sciences》2014年第2期299-306,共8页环境科学学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51178242);the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Reserch Program (No. 20121087922);the Program of Changjiang Scholars and Innovation Research Team in University

摘　　要：The detection of viable bacteria in wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） is very important for public health, as WWTPs are a medium with a high potential for waterborne disease transmission. The aim of this study was to use propidium monoazide （PMA） combined with the quantitative polymerase chain reaction （PMA-qPCR） to selectively detect and quantify viable bacteria cells in full-scale WWTPs in China. PMA was added to the concentrated WWTP samples at a final concentration of 100 μmol/L and the samples were incubated in the dark for 5 min, and then lighted for 4 min prior to DNA extraction and qPCR with specific primers for Escherichia coli and Enterococci, respectively. The results showed that PMA treatment removed more than 99% of DNA from non-viable cells in all the WWTP samples, while matrices in sludge samples markedly reduced the effectiveness of PMA treatment. Compared to qPCR, PMA-qPCR results were similar and highly linearly correlated to those obtained by culture assay, indicating that DNA from non-viable cells present in WWTP samples can be eliminated by PMA treatment, and that PMA-qPCR is a reliable method for detection of viable bacteria in environmental samples. This study demonstrated that PMA-qPCR is a rapid and selective detection method for viable bacteria in WWTP samples, and that WWTPs have an obvious function in removing both viable and non-viable bacteria. The results proved that PMA-qPCR is a promising detection method that has a high potential for application as a complementary method to the standard culture-based method in the future.The detection of viable bacteria in wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） is very important for public health, as WWTPs are a medium with a high potential for waterborne disease transmission. The aim of this study was to use propidium monoazide （PMA） combined with the quantitative polymerase chain reaction （PMA-qPCR） to selectively detect and quantify viable bacteria cells in full-scale WWTPs in China. PMA was added to the concentrated WWTP samples at a final concentration of 100 μmol/L and the samples were incubated in the dark for 5 min, and then lighted for 4 min prior to DNA extraction and qPCR with specific primers for Escherichia coli and Enterococci, respectively. The results showed that PMA treatment removed more than 99% of DNA from non-viable cells in all the WWTP samples, while matrices in sludge samples markedly reduced the effectiveness of PMA treatment. Compared to qPCR, PMA-qPCR results were similar and highly linearly correlated to those obtained by culture assay, indicating that DNA from non-viable cells present in WWTP samples can be eliminated by PMA treatment, and that PMA-qPCR is a reliable method for detection of viable bacteria in environmental samples. This study demonstrated that PMA-qPCR is a rapid and selective detection method for viable bacteria in WWTP samples, and that WWTPs have an obvious function in removing both viable and non-viable bacteria. The results proved that PMA-qPCR is a promising detection method that has a high potential for application as a complementary method to the standard culture-based method in the future.

关 键 词：propidium monoazide quantitative PCR WWTPs E. coli Enterococci 

分 类 号：X832[环境科学与工程—环境工程] X703