Molecular monitoring of inactivation efficiencies of bacteria during pulsed electric field treatment of clinical wastewater.
OBJECTIVE
The applicability of an alternative wastewater disinfection concept based on the pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is tested with molecular biology techniques using clinical wastewaters.


RESULTS
Hospital wastewater was treated with the PEF technology. The inactivation efficiencies of bacteria were successfully monitored with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). As the differentiation between living and dead bacterial cells is important for the determination of the disinfection efficiency, propidium monoazide (PMA) was applied. PMA selectively penetrates cells with compromised membranes and intercalates into the DNA inhibiting a subsequent PCR amplification. The rates of reduction were examined for specific pathogens and wastewater populations using PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. The results showed that the main part of the bacterial population could be inactivated efficiently with the PEF treatment. Moreover, it was demonstrated that naturally occurring nuclease activities were not affected by the PEF treatment in contrast to a thermal treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicated that the PEF treatment is an appropriate alternative disinfection concept for the treatment of clinical wastewaters and surpass the disadvantages of other disinfection methods.


CONCLUSIONS
With the use of propidium monoazide for live-dead distinction, a new concept could be developed for the evaluation of disinfection methods.
Rieder
A
A
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Microbiology of Natural and Technical Surfaces Department: Water Technology and Geotechnology Division, Institute of Technical Chemistry, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Schwartz
T
T
Schön-Hölz
K
K
Marten
S-M
SM
Süss
J
J
Gusbeth
C
C
Kohnen
W
W
Swoboda
W
W
Obst
U
U
Frey
W
W
D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000379:methods; D006761:Hospitals; D007364:Intercalating Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011419:Propidium / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
D007364:Intercalating Agents; D011419:Propidium