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. 2014 Oct;37(4):694-701.
doi: 10.1590/S1415-47572014005000016. Epub 2014 Nov 3.

Clustering of water bodies in unpolluted and polluted environments based on Escherichia coli phylogroup abundance using a simple interaction database

Nancy de Castro Stoppe  1 , Juliana Saragiotto Silva  2 , Tatiana Teixeira Torres  3 , Camila Carlos  4 , Elayse Maria Hachich  5 , Maria Inês Zanoli Sato  5 , Antonio Mauro Saraiva  6 , Laura Maria Mariscal Ottoboni  4
Affiliations

Clustering of water bodies in unpolluted and polluted environments based on Escherichia coli phylogroup abundance using a simple interaction database

Nancy de Castro Stoppe et al. Genet Mol Biol. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

Different types of water bodies, including lakes, streams, and coastal marine waters, are often susceptible to fecal contamination from a range of point and nonpoint sources, and have been evaluated using fecal indicator microorganisms. The most commonly used fecal indicator is Escherichia coli, but traditional cultivation methods do not allow discrimination of the source of pollution. The use of triplex PCR offers an approach that is fast and inexpensive, and here enabled the identification of phylogroups. The phylogenetic distribution of E. coli subgroups isolated from water samples revealed higher frequencies of subgroups A1 and B23 in rivers impacted by human pollution sources, while subgroups D1 and D2 were associated with pristine sites, and subgroup B1 with domesticated animal sources, suggesting their use as a first screening for pollution source identification. A simple classification is also proposed based on phylogenetic subgroup distribution using the w-clique metric, enabling differentiation of polluted and unpolluted sites.

Keywords: E. coli; interaction networks; phylogenetic groups; pollution sources; social network analysis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Locations of sampling sites in the WMU (grey areas).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of E. coli phylogenetic subgroups in rivers and reservoirs. The circle size is proportional to phylogenetic subgroup frequency.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Dendrogram obtained by the UPGMA cluster analysis method.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Dendrogram obtained using the w-clique metric, showing water body clusters.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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