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. 2018 Nov 16;13(11):e0207727.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207727. eCollection 2018.

Assessment and application of host-specific Bacteroidales genetic markers for microbial source tracking of river water in Japan

Eiji Haramoto  1 , Rui Osada  2
Affiliations

Assessment and application of host-specific Bacteroidales genetic markers for microbial source tracking of river water in Japan

Eiji Haramoto et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Microbial source tracking using host-specific microbial genetic markers is considered a promising approach to determine fecal contamination sources of aquatic environments. This study aimed to assess the application of previously developed host-specific Bacteroidales quantitative PCR assays to microbial source tracking of river water samples in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Various types of fecal-source samples, such as raw sewage, secondary-treated sewage of a wastewater treatment plant, and cattle feces, were used for three human-, two ruminant- and two pig-specific Bacteroidales quantitative PCR assays. Our results demonstrated that BacHum, BacR and Pig2Bac assays as suitable human-, ruminant- and pig-specific assays, with an accuracy of 86%, 94% and 77%, respectively. These selected assays were used for microbial source tracking of 63 river water samples collected at nine sites in two river basins. From these sites, there were 48 (76%), 34 (54%) and 9 (14%) positive samples using the BacHum, BacR and Pig2Bac assays, respectively. These assays revealed the effects of humans and animals on fecal contamination of river water.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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