Quantification and fate of plasmid-specific bacteriophages in wastewater: Beyond the F-coliphages

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Plasmid-specific bacteriophages specifically infect bacteria carrying conjugal plasmids. While wastewater has been used as isolation source for such phages, to date, only the distribution and ecology of RNA phages specific to the F plasmid have been described, because they serve as a water quality indicator. Yet, several other plasmid classes have higher clinical and ecological relevance, and the distribution, fate, and ecology of the phages that target them remain uncharacterized. We aimed to (i) provide an experimental platform to quantify the abundance of plasmid-specific phages applicable to several different conjugal plasmid classes, (ii) describe the distribution of such phages in wastewater systems, and (iii) relate their abundance to plasmid abundance and to municipal wastewater treatment processes. We introduced four model conjugal plasmids, belonging to incompatibility groups IncP-1, IncN, IncHI1, or IncF into an avirulent Salmonella enterica strain, for which somatic phages are at low abundance in wastewater. These strains were used in double layer agar assays with waters from contrasting sources. Plasmid-specific phages were common in wastewater but rare in river water. Hospital wastewater contained significantly more IncP-1-, but fewer IncF- and IncN- specific phages than domestic wastewater. This pattern did not match that of plasmid abundance estimated by Inc group targeting high-throughput quantitative PCR. The comparison between influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants revealed a reduction in phage concentration by ca. 2 log, without significant contribution of primary settling. Overall, the ubiquity of these phages hints at their importance for plasmid ecology, and can provide opportunities in water quality monitoring and in ecological management of mobile resistance genes.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer119320
TidsskriftWater Research
Vol/bind227
Antal sider8
ISSN0043-1354
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a research grant (Plasmid-specific bacteriophages to fight antibiotic resistance spread in the environment (P-PhanFARE), grant number 23046) from VILLUM FONDEN and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska Curie grant agreement Number 101026675 – Phage POWER. We appreciate the support from the staff of the plants (VA SYD, Region Gotlands, Gryaab, Hillerød Forsyning) in the planning and execution of our sampling campaign and the skillful contributions of Isabella Joensen, Agnete Karlsmose, and Lucja Vrtodusic to the laboratory experiments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

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