title: The Use of Two Culturing Methods in Parallel Reveals a High Prevalence and Diversity ofArcobacterspp. in a Wastewater Treatment Plant.
abstract: The genusArcobacterincludes species considered emerging food and waterborne pathogens. DespiteArcobacterhas been linked to the presence of faecal pollution, few studies have investigated its prevalence in wastewater, and the only isolated species wereArcobacter butzleriandArcobacter cryaerophilus. This study aimed to establish the prevalence ofArcobacterspp. at a WWTP using in parallel two culturing methods (direct plating and culturing after enrichment) and a direct detection by m-PCR. In addition, the genetic diversity of the isolates was established using the ERIC-PCR genotyping method. Most of the wastewater samples (96.7%) were positive forArcobacterand a high genetic diversity was observed among the 651 investigated isolates that belonged to 424 different ERIC genotypes. However, only few strains persisted at different dates or sampling points. The use of direct plating in parallel with culturing after enrichment allowed recovering the species A.butzleri, A.cryaerophilus,Arcobacter thereius,Arcobacter defluvii,Arcobacter skirrowii,Arcobacter ellisii,Arcobacter cloacae, andArcobacter nitrofigilis, most of them isolated for the first time from wastewater. The predominant species was A.butzleri, however, by direct plating predominated A.cryaerophilus. Therefore, the overall predominance of A.butzleriwas a bias associated with the use of enrichment.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Tecnología Médica, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avenida Universidad 330, 2373223 Valparaíso, Chile.
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7250-3382
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levican
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Bioquímica y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7140-4219
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Collado
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Microbiologia, Departament de Ciències Mediques Bàsiques, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2268-8980
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Figueras
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D020640:Arcobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D044822:Biodiversity; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity; D062065:Wastewater / Q000382:microbiology*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D062065:Wastewater