Dataset Information

Ugly ducklings-the dark side of plastic materials in contact with potable water.

ABSTRACT: Bath toys pose an interesting link between flexible plastic materials, potable water, external microbial and nutrient contamination, and potentially vulnerable end-users. Here, we characterized biofilm communities inside 19 bath toys used under real conditions. In addition, some determinants for biofilm formation were assessed, using six identical bath toys under controlled conditions with either clean water prior to bathing or dirty water after bathing. All examined bath toys revealed notable biofilms on their inner surface, with average total bacterial numbers of 5.5?×?106?cells/cm2 (clean water controls), 9.5?×?106?cells/cm2 (real bath toys), and 7.3?×?107?cells/cm2 (dirty water controls). Bacterial community compositions were diverse, showing many rare taxa in real bath toys and rather distinct communities in control bath toys, with a noticeable difference between clean and dirty water control biofilms. Fungi were identified in 58% of all real bath toys and in all dirty water control toys. Based on the comparison of clean water and dirty water control bath toys, we argue that bath toy biofilms are influenced by (1) the organic carbon leaching from the flexible plastic material, (2) the chemical and biological tap water quality, (3) additional nutrients from care products and human body fluids in the bath water, as well as, (4) additional bacteria from dirt and/or the end-users' microbiome. The present study gives a detailed characterization of bath toy biofilms and a better understanding of determinants for biofilm formation and development in systems comprising plastic materials in contact with potable water.

SUBMITTER: Neu L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5869678 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ugly ducklings-the dark side of plastic materials in contact with potable water.

Neu Lisa L Bänziger Carola C Proctor Caitlin R CR Zhang Ya Y Liu Wen-Tso WT Hammes Frederik F

NPJ biofilms and microbiomes 20180327

Bath toys pose an interesting link between flexible plastic materials, potable water, external microbial and nutrient contamination, and potentially vulnerable end-users. Here, we characterized biofilm communities inside 19 bath toys used under real conditions. In addition, some determinants for biofilm formation were assessed, using six identical bath toys under controlled conditions with either clean water prior to bathing or dirty water after bathing. All examined bath toys revealed notable b ...[more]

PMID: 29619241

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Project description:Many Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are derived from residential, recreational, or surface water sources; thus, these environments represent an important preinfection niche. To better understand P. aeruginosa biology in these environments, we quantified transcriptional changes by microarray after exposure to diluted LB, diluted R2B, potable tap water, and freshwater from a eutrophic pond. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) confirmed the conservation of these responses in other water sources, and competition experiments were used to test the importance of three implicated metabolic pathways. The global transcriptional responses in potable water and freshwater showed strong induction of genes involved in metabolism of the head groups and acyl tails of phospholipids, as well as nucleotide metabolism, with commensurate decreased transcript expression of genes encoding their synthetic pathways. These data suggest that phospholipids and nucleotides are part of the nutritional milieu of these two environments. A unique response in municipal-delivered potable water was to the metals in the piping system, particularly copper. To identify potential nutrient sources used by P. aeruginosa in these environments, we used competition assays between the wild-type and deletion mutant strains in three pathways induced under these conditions. For phospholipid head-group metabolism, ethanolamine utilization (eutB) was important for competition in potable water, while choline oxidation (betBA) was important for competition in freshwater. Nucleotide utilization, particularly pyrimidine metabolism (dht), showed a trend toward importance in freshwater but was not statistically significant. These findings provide new insights into the P. aeruginosa response to potable water and freshwater and led to the identification of potentially important nutrient sources in these environments.IMPORTANCE Much of our knowledge about Pseudomonas aeruginosa comes from the infection niche, and much less is known about its lifestyle in the environment. P. aeruginosa is an adaptable bacterium capable of growing in many environments but is particularly common in potable water systems and freshwater. We used the transcriptional responses of P. aeruginosa to these environments to identify important nutrient sources specific to either of these two environments. Additionally, these environments could provide experimental situations to understand gene function for the large number of transcripts with unknown functions induced under these conditions.

Dataset Information

Ugly ducklings-the dark side of plastic materials in contact with potable water.

Publications

Ugly ducklings-the dark side of plastic materials in contact with potable water.

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