Citation:

Rogers, J., F. Leusch, B. Chambers, K. Daniels, L. Everett, R. Judson, K. Maruya, A. Mehinto, P. Neale, K. Friedman, R. Thomas, S. Snyder, AND J. Harrill. High-Throughput Transcriptomics of Water Extracts Detects Reductions in Biological Activity with Water Treatment Processes. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 58(4):2027-2037, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c07525

Impact/Purpose:

This manuscript summarizes a proof-of-concept study where field-derived water extracts taken prior to and following various water treatment processes were tested for bioactivity using high-throughput transcriptomics in MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma cells.  The manuscript builds upon previous work in the field evaluating the utility of cell based assays for bioactivity screening of water samples containing unknown chemical components.  The manuscript also builds upon previous work from US EPA applying high-throughput transcriptomics for in vitro hazard evaluation of discrete chemicals. The results demonstrate that reclaimed water extracts produced fewer changes in gene expression than wastewater, surface water or laboratory blank samples.  The treatment processes were successful in reducing the biological activity present in pre-treatment water samples.  These results would be of interest to stakeholders interested in the use of bioactivity assays for water quality monitoring.

Description:

The presence of numerous chemical contaminants from industrial, agricultural, and pharmaceutical sources in water supplies poses a potential risk to human and ecological health. Current chemical analyses suffer from limitations, including chemical coverage and high cost, and broad-coverage in vitro assays such as transcriptomics may further improve water quality monitoring by assessing a large range of possible effects. Here, we used high-throughput transcriptomics to assess the activity induced by field-derived water extracts in MCF7 breast carcinoma cells. Wastewater and surface water extracts induced the largest changes in expression among cell proliferation-related genes and neurological, estrogenic, and antibiotic pathways, whereas drinking and reclaimed water extracts that underwent advanced treatment showed substantially reduced bioactivity on both gene and pathway levels. Importantly, reclaimed water extracts induced fewer changes in gene expression than laboratory blanks, which reinforces previous conclusions based on targeted assays and improves confidence in bioassay-based monitoring of water quality.  

URLs/Downloads:

Record Details: