EAGER: Anthropogenic Impact Assessment in Environmental Water with Human Hyper-Variable Region Mitochondrial DNA

目前的污染源识别方法主要集中在追踪与人类肠道相关的细菌，但许多这些细菌指标也在环境中茁壮成长，并存在于多种其他哺乳动物宿主中。现在人们普遍认为，大肠菌群对污染源的追踪是不可靠的，因为它们能够在环境中存活很长一段时间，这使得很难区分污染事件的来源或时间。该项目提出了一种通过人类线粒体高变区II DNA进行精确来源鉴定的新方法，这是一种新的和潜在的变革方法，可以对抗饮用水中的粪便污染。提议的工作将PI最近的人类线粒体高变区II源跟踪研究扩展到一个特别独特和重要的生态系统，即Lord Howe岛（澳大利亚）的沿海水域。豪勋爵岛被联合国教科文组织列为具有全球自然意义的世界遗产，人口相对较少（不到1000人），计划对老化的化粪池污水基础设施进行翻新。该采样地点的好处有3倍：1)有限的人口应该产生可处理数量的人类线粒体高变区II序列，使人类废物来源与沿海水污染之间的联系更加离散；2)确定影响化粪池将使资源有限的Lord Howe岛居民能够进行成本有效的补救；3)Lord Howe岛是一个具有全球意义的生态系统。该提案的假设是，从受影响的环境水中测序人类线粒体DNA可以明确来源和量化污染贡献者。与模棱两可的细菌分析不同，结论性采购将有助于减少与废物有关的来源和健康风险。也就是说，人类线粒体DNA支持的来源鉴定可以通过在人类线粒体高变区II区发现的序列信息来实现，这是一种更常用于刑事法医分析和人类系统发育学的方法。

1550093WendellCurrent pollution source identification methods focus on tracking bacteria associated with the human gut, but many of these bacterial indicators also thrive in the environment and reside in multiple other mammalian hosts. It is now widely accepted that coliform bacteria are unreliable for source tracking due to their ability to survive for extended periods of time in the environment, making it difficult to distinguish the source or timing of a contamination event. This project proposes a new approach for precise source identification through human mitochondrial hypervariable region II DNA which is a new and potentially transformative approach to combating fecal contamination in drinking water. The proposed work extends the PI's recent human mitochondrial hypervariable region II source tracking study to a particularly unique and important ecosystem the coastal waters of Lord Howe Island (Australia). Lord Howe Island is recorded as a UNESCO world heritage site of global natural significance with a relatively small population (less than 1000) and is slated to undergo renovations to an aging septic wastewater infrastructure. The benefits of this sampling location are 3 fold: 1) a limited population should produce a tractable number of human mitochondrial hypervariable region II sequences, enabling a more discrete linkage between human waste source and coastal water contamination, 2) identifying impacting septic tanks will enable cost effective remediation for resource limited residents of Lord Howe Island, and, 3) Lord Howe Island is an ecosystem of global significance. The hypothesis of this proposal is that sequencing human mitochondrial DNA from impacted environmental water can definitively source and quantify pollution contributors. Unlike ambiguous bacterial assays, conclusive sourcing will enable mitigation of waste related sources and health risks. That is, human mitochondrial DNA enabled source identification can be achieved through sequence information found in the human mitochondrial hypervariable region II region, an approach more commonly used in criminal forensic analysis and anthropologic phylogenetics.