SusChEM: GOALI: Harnessing the Antimicrobial Properties of Copper to Control Legionella in Plumbing Systems

SusChEM：目标：利用铜的抗菌特性来控制管道系统中的军团菌

• 批准号: 1706733
• 负责人: Marc Edwards
• 金额: $ 37.98万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1706733&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SusChEM; GOALI; Harnessing; Antimicrobial; Properties

Proposal Number: 1706733PI Name: Marc A. Edwards The growing public health threat in drinking water from opportunistic pathogens (OPs), such as Legionella, calls for practical engineering solutions that are compatible with sustainability goals. Taking advantage of the natural disinfecting properties of copper (Cu) pipes, which are widely used in plumbing systems, is an attractive approach for control of Legionella; however, Cu is not consistently effective in practice, as it sometimes inhibits and other times stimulates Legionella growth. This research seeks to address this fundamental knowledge gap through bench, pilot, and field-scale studies to identify the water chemistries that enhance or inhibit Cu-driven disinfection of Legionella. This research is potentially transformative as it will inform practical, economical, and sustainable means of addressing a key public health threat just as trillions of dollars will be invested to upgrade antiquated water infrastructure.The overarching hypothesis for this research is that water chemistry directly and indirectly influences Cu toxicity towards Legionella. The specific objectives are to: 1) Determine the effects of Cu speciation, complexation, and precipitation in governing toxicity towards Legionella under conditions relevant to hot water building plumbing systems; 2) Explore the role of microbial communities inhabiting plumbing systems to mediate toxicity of Cu, e.g., through shielding or responding to nutrients released from corrosion reactions (e.g., H2 evolved), and confirm Objective 1 phenomena under realistic pilot-scale plumbing conditions; and 3) Conduct a field survey to validate relationships among physicochemical, Cu speciation/solubility, and microbial factors in real-world plumbing systems and illuminate drivers of Cu-enhanced versus Cu-inhibited Legionella growth. This study will be the first systematic examination of the speciation- and solubility-dependent nature of Cu toxicity towards Legionella in potable water systems, particularly within hot water that is most relevant to OP proliferation. Of particular interest is the occurrence and behavior of cuprous (Cu1+) ions. Cu1+ is probably non-toxic to Legionella and may even indirectly stimulate its growth by catalyzing deposition corrosion of less noble metal plumbing materials which will then provide H2 for autotrophic hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria. Cupric (Cu2+) ions have strong biocidal properties, but effectiveness may be limited by temperature, redox, inorganic and organic ligands, corrosion control agents, and biofilm properties. An innovative combination of tools will be used to characterize complex interdependencies among the microbial community composition, physicochemical properties, Cu speciation, and Legionella, including next-generation DNA sequencing, green-fluorescence protein modified strains, flow cytometry, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction crystallography. Knowledge generated by this research has the potential to guide building maintenance practices to prevent the proliferation of Legionella.

提案编号：1706733 PI姓名：Marc A. Edwards由于军团菌等机会致病菌（OP）对饮用水的公共卫生威胁日益严重，因此需要符合可持续发展目标的实用工程解决方案。利用广泛用于管道系统的铜（Cu）管的天然消毒特性是控制军团菌的一种有吸引力的方法;然而，Cu在实践中并不总是有效的，因为它有时会抑制军团菌的生长，有时会刺激军团菌的生长。 本研究旨在通过实验室、试点和现场规模的研究来解决这一基本知识缺口，以确定增强或抑制铜驱动的军团菌消毒的水化学。这项研究具有潜在的变革性，因为它将为解决关键的公共卫生威胁提供实用，经济和可持续的方法，就像数万亿美元将投资于升级陈旧的水基础设施一样。这项研究的首要假设是，水化学直接和间接影响铜对军团菌的毒性。具体目标是：1）确定在热水建筑管道系统相关条件下，Cu形态、络合和沉淀对军团菌毒性的影响; 2）探索居住在管道系统中的微生物群落介导Cu毒性的作用，例如，通过屏蔽或响应从腐蚀反应释放的营养物（例如，H2进化），并在现实的中试规模的管道条件下确认目标1现象;和3）进行实地调查，以验证物理化学，铜形态/溶解度和微生物因素在现实世界的管道系统中的关系，并阐明铜增强与铜抑制军团菌生长的驱动因素。 这项研究将是第一个系统的检查形态和溶解度依赖性质的铜毒性对军团菌在饮用水系统中，特别是在热水中，是最相关的OP增殖。特别感兴趣的是亚铜（Cu 1+）离子的存在和行为。Cu 1+可能对军团菌无毒，甚至可能通过催化不太贵的金属管道材料的沉积腐蚀间接刺激其生长，然后为自养氢氧化细菌提供H2。铜（Cu 2+）离子具有强的杀生物特性，但有效性可能受到温度、氧化还原、无机和有机配体、腐蚀控制剂和生物膜特性的限制。创新的工具组合将用于表征微生物群落组成，物理化学性质，Cu形态和军团菌之间的复杂相互依赖关系，包括下一代DNA测序，绿色荧光蛋白修饰菌株，流式细胞术，扫描电子显微镜和X射线衍射晶体学。这项研究所产生的知识有可能指导建筑物的维护实践，以防止军团菌的扩散。

项目成果

Shotgun Metagenomics Reveals Taxonomic and Functional Shifts in Hot Water Microbiome Due to Temperature Setting and Stagnation

• DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02695
• 发表时间: 2018-11-13
• 期刊: FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Dai, Dongjuan;Rhoads, William J.;Pruden, Amy
• 通讯作者: Pruden, Amy

Natural Organic Matter, Orthophosphate, pH, and Growth Phase Can Limit Copper Antimicrobial Efficacy for Legionella in Drinking Water

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c06804
• 发表时间: 2021-01-11
• 期刊: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
• 影响因子: 11.4
• 作者: Song, Yang;Pruden, Amy;Rhoads, William J.
• 通讯作者: Rhoads, William J.

Replicable simulation of distal hot water premise plumbing using convectively-mixed pipe reactors

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238385
• 发表时间: 2020-09
• 期刊: PLoS ONE
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: M. S. Spencer;Abraham Cullom;W. Rhoads;A. Pruden;Marc A Edwards