TY - JOUR
T1 - Premise plumbing bacterial communities in four European cities and their association with Legionella
AU - Scaturro, Maria
AU - Del Chierico, Federica
AU - Motro, Yair
AU - Chaldoupi, Angeliki
AU - Flountzi, Anastasia
AU - Moran-Gilad, Jacob
AU - Girolamo, Antonietta
AU - Koutsiomani, Thomai
AU - Krogulska, Bozena
AU - Lindsay, Diane
AU - Matuszewska, Renata
AU - Papageorgiou, Georgios
AU - Pancer, Katarzyna
AU - Panoussis, Nikolaos
AU - Rota, Maria Cristina
AU - Uldum, Søren Anker
AU - Velonakis, Emmanuel
AU - Chaput, Dominique L.
AU - Ricci, Maria Luisa
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Scaturro, Del Chierico, Motro, Chaldoupi, Flountzi, Moran-Gilad, Girolamo, Koutsiomani, Krogulska, Lindsay, Matuszewska, Papageorgiou, Pancer, Panoussis, Rota, Uldum, Velonakis, Chaput and Ricci.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Introduction: Legionella species are Gram negative, facultative, intracellular bacteria found in natural and engineered water systems. Understanding the bacterial interactions underlying the success of Legionella in aquatic environments could be beneficial for control. Materials and methods: We aimed to profile, by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing (V3-V4), the bacterial communities in premise plumbing systems of buildings in four European cities (Copenhagen, Warsaw, Rome, Athens), and identify positive and negative associations of specific community members to culturable Legionella. Results: The coarse taxonomic composition was similar across the four cities, but Copenhagen and Warsaw had richer, more diverse communities than Athens and Rome, with a greater number of city-specific amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). The cities had statistically significant differences in bacterial communities at the ASV level, with relatively few shared ASVs. Out of 5,128 ASVs, 73 were classified as Legionella, and one or more of these were detected in most samples from each city (88.1% overall). Interestingly, the relative abundance of Legionella ASVs did not correlate with Legionella culture status. Overall, 44.2% of samples were Legionella culture positive: 71.4% in Warsaw, 62.2% in Athens, 22.2% in Rome, and 15.2% in Copenhagen. 54 specific ASVs and 42 genera had significant positive or negative associations with culturable Legionella. Negative associations included Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, and Acinetobacter. Positive associations included several Nitrospira ASVs and one classified as Nitrosomodaceae oc32, ASVs in the amoeba-associated genera Craurococcus-Caldovatus and Reyranella, and the predatory genus Bdellovibrio. Discussion: Some of these associations are well supported by laboratory studies, but others are the opposite of what was expected. This highlights the difficulties in translating pure culture results to in complex real-life scenarios. However, these positive and negative associations held across the four cities, across multiple buildings and plumbing compartments. This is important because developing better control measures, including probiotic approaches, will require an understanding of ecological relationships that can be generalised across different engineered water systems.
AB - Introduction: Legionella species are Gram negative, facultative, intracellular bacteria found in natural and engineered water systems. Understanding the bacterial interactions underlying the success of Legionella in aquatic environments could be beneficial for control. Materials and methods: We aimed to profile, by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing (V3-V4), the bacterial communities in premise plumbing systems of buildings in four European cities (Copenhagen, Warsaw, Rome, Athens), and identify positive and negative associations of specific community members to culturable Legionella. Results: The coarse taxonomic composition was similar across the four cities, but Copenhagen and Warsaw had richer, more diverse communities than Athens and Rome, with a greater number of city-specific amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). The cities had statistically significant differences in bacterial communities at the ASV level, with relatively few shared ASVs. Out of 5,128 ASVs, 73 were classified as Legionella, and one or more of these were detected in most samples from each city (88.1% overall). Interestingly, the relative abundance of Legionella ASVs did not correlate with Legionella culture status. Overall, 44.2% of samples were Legionella culture positive: 71.4% in Warsaw, 62.2% in Athens, 22.2% in Rome, and 15.2% in Copenhagen. 54 specific ASVs and 42 genera had significant positive or negative associations with culturable Legionella. Negative associations included Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, and Acinetobacter. Positive associations included several Nitrospira ASVs and one classified as Nitrosomodaceae oc32, ASVs in the amoeba-associated genera Craurococcus-Caldovatus and Reyranella, and the predatory genus Bdellovibrio. Discussion: Some of these associations are well supported by laboratory studies, but others are the opposite of what was expected. This highlights the difficulties in translating pure culture results to in complex real-life scenarios. However, these positive and negative associations held across the four cities, across multiple buildings and plumbing compartments. This is important because developing better control measures, including probiotic approaches, will require an understanding of ecological relationships that can be generalised across different engineered water systems.
KW - European countries
KW - Legionella
KW - drinking water system
KW - microbial association
KW - microbiome
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105007068618&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/frmbi.2023.1170824
DO - 10.3389/frmbi.2023.1170824
M3 - Article
SN - 2813-4338
VL - 2
JO - Frontiers in Microbiomes
JF - Frontiers in Microbiomes
M1 - 1170824
ER -