Collaborative Research: Quantifying and Correlating Pathogens and a Poultry Feces Marker Gene in Environmental Waters

合作研究：环境水中病原体和家禽粪便标记基因的量化和关联

• 批准号: 1234237
• 负责人: Valerie Harwood
• 金额: $ 16.69万
• 依托单位: University of South Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1234237&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Quantifying; Correlating; Pathogens

1234366/1234237Weidhaas/HarwoodOver 10,000 US water bodies are impaired under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act due to fecal contamination, as evidenced by fecal indicator bacteria. Agricultural practices, including land spreading of approximately 1.6 billion kg of poultry litter (soiled bedding) per year as a fertilizer, were the leading probable source of water quality impairments in the US in 2008. Poultry litter (bedding contaminated with feces) contains pathogens which can impact environmental waters when constituents of land-applied poultry run off during storms. Degraded water quality leads to regulatory action (impairment), eutrophication, altered ecosystem structure, and fish kills due to the planned application, and in some cases mismanagement, of poultry litter as a fertilizer. Microbial source tracking methods can be used to more accurately determine the source of impairment to water bodies, and to circumvent known issues and inadequacies in fecal indicator bacteria-based pathogen monitoring and fecal pollution source identification. Detection of microorganisms specific to one animal's feces, a.k.a. a marker, in receiving water enhances environmental stewardship by allowing watershed managers to investigate and remediate only the most likely sources of fecal pollution. Development and validation of rapid methods to conclusively determine whether land-applied poultry litter is in runoff is a crucial need for watershed management across the U.S. These methods are widely sought by regulatory agencies and others concerned with water quality beach advisories/closures, TMDL formulation, and remediation of contaminated waterways. This research will critically evaluate 1) a poultry litter marker gene?s correlation with pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria originating from poultry feces and litter and 2) the fate, transport and inactivation of the marker gene and human pathogens under environmentally relevant conditions. Specific studies will be conducted to determine the correlation and survival of poultry litter associated pathogens, fecal indicator bacteria, and the poultry litter marker derived from the 16S rRNA gene of Brevibacterium sp. LA35. These studies will be conducted in soiled poultry litter and feces, in laboratory mesocosms simulating environmental exposure, and in field-scale, simulated rainfall runoff studies. At the completion of this project the research will have critically evaluated the value of the poultry litter marker gene as a tool to identify poultry litter contamination in water bodies, as well as the marker's utility in assessing risk to humans from exposure to water containing poultry litter and its associated pathogens.The completed study is expected to have a significant positive impact on the efficacy of monitoring of water bodies for poultry litter contamination and human pathogens originating from runoff contaminated by poultry litter. This research will lead to the development of a tool that allows accurate measurement and modeling of non-point source pollution from land-applied poultry litter, including better estimates of human health risk from such contamination. In the long term, this research will provide water quality managers with a rapid and quantitative tool for identifying pollution sources and for determining appropriate poultry litter application rates to agricultural fields, which will ultimately lead to lower public exposure to human pathogens as a result of poultry litter management.

1234366/1234237 Weidhaas/Harwood根据《清洁水法》第303（d）条，超过10,000个美国水体因粪便污染而受损，粪便指示细菌就是证据。2008年，农业实践，包括每年将约16亿公斤家禽粪便（污染的垫料）用作肥料，是美国水质损害的主要可能来源。家禽粪便（被粪便污染的垫料）含有病原体，当风暴期间陆地施用的家禽成分流失时，这些病原体会影响环境沃茨。水质恶化导致管制行动（损害）、富营养化、生态系统结构改变，以及由于有计划地将家禽粪便用作肥料（有时管理不善）而导致鱼类死亡。微生物源追踪方法可用于更准确地确定对水体的损害来源，并规避基于粪便指示菌的病原体监测和粪便污染源识别中已知的问题和不足。检测一种动物粪便特有的微生物，也称为一个标志，在接收水加强环境管理，使流域管理人员调查和补救只有最可能的粪便污染源。开发和验证快速的方法，以最终确定是否在径流的土地上应用的家禽垃圾是一个至关重要的需要在美国各地的流域管理这些方法是广泛寻求监管机构和其他有关水质海滩围/封，TMDL的制定，并修复受污染的水道。本研究将严格评估1）家禽窝标记基因？与来源于家禽粪便和垫料的病原体和粪便指示细菌的相关性和2）标记基因和人类病原体在环境相关条件下的命运、运输和失活。将进行具体研究，以确定家禽粪便相关病原体、粪便指示细菌和源自短杆菌LA 35 16 S rRNA基因的家禽粪便标记物的相关性和存活率。这些研究将在污染的家禽垫料和粪便中进行，在模拟环境暴露的实验室围隔生态系统中进行，并在现场规模的模拟降雨径流研究中进行。在该项目完成时，该研究将严格评估家禽垃圾标记基因作为识别水体中家禽垃圾污染的工具的价值，以及该标记物在评估人类接触含有家禽粪便及其相关病原体的水体的风险方面的实用性。完成的研究预计将对水体监测的有效性产生重大积极影响，家禽垃圾污染和源自家禽垃圾污染的径流的人类病原体。这项研究将导致开发一种工具，可以精确测量和模拟土地上施用的家禽粪便的非点源污染，包括更好地估计这种污染对人类健康的风险。从长远来看，这项研究将为水质管理人员提供一个快速和定量的工具，用于识别污染源，并确定适当的家禽垃圾施用率到农业领域，这将最终导致减少公众暴露于人类病原体的家禽垃圾管理的结果。