Project description:Wastewater-based epidemiology has been revealed as a powerful approach for the survey of the population's health and lifestyle. In this context, proteins have been proposed as potential biomarkers that complement the information provided by those used up to now (small exogenous molecules, metabolites, and genomic material). However, few is known about the range of molecular species and dynamics of proteins in wastewater and the information hidden in these protein profiles is still to be uncovered. In previous research, we have described for the first time the proteome of wastewater using polymer probes immersed in wastewater at the entrance of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Here, we studied the protein composition of wastewater from municipalities with diverse population and industrial activities. For this purpose, we collected water samples at the inlet of 10 different WWTPs in Catalonia at three different times of the year and the soluble fraction of this material was then analyzed by Liquid Chromatography High-resolution Tandem Mass Spectrometry using a shotgun proteomics approach. The complete proteomic profiles, the distribution among different organisms, and the semiquantitative analysis of the main constituents are described. Excreta (urine and feces) from humans, and blood and other residues from livestock were identified as the two main protein sources. Significant differences between the proteomes in the soluble phase and the particulate material, respectively dominated by eukaryote and bacterial proteins, were observed. Our findings provide new insights into the characterization of wastewater proteomics that allow proposing specific bioindicators for wastewater-based environmental monitoring, including human and animal population monitoring, most notably, for rodent pest control (immunoglobulins, amylases), and livestock processing industry monitoring (albumins).
Project description:On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. COVID-19 is produced by a novel β-coronavirus known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. Several studies have detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in urine, feces, and other biofluids from both symptomatic and asymptomatic people with COVID-19 [2], suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be detected in human wastewater [3]. Thus, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is now used as an approach to monitor COVID-19 prevalence in many different places around the world [4-10] . Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most common SARS-CoV-2 detection method in WBE, but there are other methods for viral biomolecule detection that could work as well. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in untreated wastewater (WW) influents collected from six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), from Durham Region, Ontario, Canada, using a LC-MS/MS-based proteomics approach. We identified many SARS-CoV-2 proteins in these wastewater samples, with peptides from pp1ab being the most consistently detected and with consistent abundance.
Project description:Nucleic acids in wastewater provide a rich source of data for detection and surveillance of microbes. We have longitudinally collected 116 RNA samples from a wastewater treatment plant in Berlin/Germany, from March 2021 to July 2022, and 24 DNA samples from May to July 2022. We tracked human astroviruses, enteroviruses, noroviruses and adenoviruses over time to the level of strains or even individual nucleotide variations, showing how detailed human pathogens can be observed using wastewater. For respiratory pathogens, a broad enrichment panel enabled us to detect waves of RSV, influenza, or common cold coronaviruses in high agreement with clinical data. By applying a profile Hidden Markov Model-based search for novel viruses, we identified more than 100 thousand novel transcript assemblies likely not belonging to known virus species, thus substantially expanding our knowledge of virus diversity. Phylogenetic analysis is shown for bunyaviruses and parvoviruses. Finally, we identify Hundreds of novel protein sequences for CRISPR-associated proteins such as Transposase B, a class of small RNA-guided DNA editing enzymes. Taken together, we present a longitudinal and deep investigation into wastewater-derived genomic sequencing data that underlines the value of sewage surveillance for public health, planetary virome research, and biotechnological potential.