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Impact of Filter Material and Holding Time on Spore Sampling Efficiency in Water
Citation:
Ratliff, K., A. Abdel-Hady, M. Monge, A. Mikelonis, AND A. Touati. Impact of Filter Material and Holding Time on Spore Sampling Efficiency in Water. Letters in Applied Microbiology. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA, 76(2):ovad005, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/lambio/ovad005
Impact/Purpose:
Following a wide-area contamination incident (e.g., bioterrorism event), environmentally persistent pathogens, such as Bacillus anthracis (the causative agent of anthrax), could be spread across a large geographic area. An understanding of sampling methods that utilize commercially available equipment and minimize logistical burdens during transport and analysis would facilitate more rapid sampling and site characterization during remediation efforts. The results shown in this publication demonstrate that technologies and equipment being developed for the rapidly growing field of environmental DNA sampling could be leveraged for characterizing the contamination levels and extent of bacterial spores in water.
Description:
Bacillus anthracis and other environmentally persistent pathogens pose a significant threat to human and environmental health. If contamination is spread over a wide area (e.g., resulting from a bioterrorism or biowarfare incident), readily deployable and scalable sample collection methods will be necessary for rapidly developing and implementing effective remediation strategies. A recent surge in environmental (eDNA) sampling technologies could prove useful for quantifying the extent and levels of contamination from biological agents in environmental and drinking water. In this study, three commonly used membrane filtration materials (cellulose acetate, cellulose nitrate, and nylon) were evaluated for spore filtration efficiency, yielding recoveries from 17-68% and 25-117% for high and low titer samples, respectively, where cellulose nitrate filters generated the highest recoveries. A holding time test revealed no statistically significant differences between spore recoveries when analyzed at the specified timepoints, suggesting that eDNA filter sampling techniques can yield and maintain a relatively high recovery of spores for an extended period of time between filtration and analysis without a detrimental impact on spore recoveries. The results shown here indicate that emerging eDNA technologies could be leveraged for sampling following a wide-area contamination incident and for other microbiological water sampling applications.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Impact of Filter Material and Holding Time on Spore Sampling Efficiency in Water
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