Evaluation of multiple sewage-associated Bacteroides PCR markers for sewage pollution tracking.
The host specificity of the five published sewage-associated Bacteroides markers (i.e., HF183, BacHum, HuBac, BacH and Human-Bac) was evaluated in Southeast Queensland, Australia by testing fecal DNA samples (n=186) from 11 animal species including human fecal samples collected via influent to a sewage treatment plant (STP). All human fecal samples (n=50) were positive for all five markers indicating 100% sensitivity of these markers. The overall specificity of the HF183 markers to differentiate between humans and animals was 99%. The specificities of the BacHum and BacH markers were>94%, suggesting that these markers are suitable for the detection of sewage pollution in environmental waters in Australia. The HuBac (i.e., 63%) and Human-Bac (i.e., 79% specificity) markers performed poorly in distinguishing between the sources of human and animal fecal samples. It is recommended that the specificity of the sewage-associated markers must be rigorously tested prior to its application to identify the sources of fecal pollution in environmental waters.
Department of Natural Resources and Water, 80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Sunshine Coast, QLD 4558, Brisbane 4068, Australia. shuhat@yahoo.com
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Ahmed
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Goonetilleke
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Powell
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Gardner
D000818:Animals; D001439:Bacteroides / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012722:Sewage; D014873:Water Pollutants