Resistance and Virulence of Surviving Bacteria in Water after Various Disinfection Processes

项目概述：水中的细菌病原体对公众健康构成巨大的全球威胁， 尤其是对于免疫系统较弱的人群。虽然目前的消毒策略旨在 在减轻病原体的存在方面，它们并不能完全根除 微生物。这就提出了一个问题，即存活的微生物在 不同的消毒工艺。目前还不清楚这些幸存的微生物是不是 与消毒前一样，危害更小或更大。这个问题的答案是 对微生物安全有重大影响。至于有效的消毒，真正重要的是 降低致病性而不是微生物的浓度。长期目标 是为了更好地了解存活下来的人的致病性和对抗生素的敏感性 微生物在消毒后的作用并阐明调控防御系统的作用 幸存的微生物。拟议的研究项目试图揭示这一特征 系统监测不同消毒工艺前后细菌的变化 研究以提供有关消毒策略的指导。这项工作的主要目标是 提案将通过解决以下具体目标来实现：具体目标1.调查 不同消毒处理后原水和处理水中微生物群落结构和功能。 特定目的2.测定存活细菌的毒力和抗生素耐药性 消毒。特定目的3.阐明消毒剂在水平基因转移中的作用 抗生素耐药基因和毒力因子。实现上述目标将提供 关于消毒后残存细菌特性的基本知识 对公众健康至关重要。知识的提高将促进新型消毒技术的发展 减少存活细菌的致病性和最大限度减少细菌传播的策略 具有毒力和抗药性进入水中。这些研究也将有益于未来的R01 格兰特，在那里我们将探索消毒策略和致病性之间的相关性 存活微生物和阐明调控防御系统对存活的作用 微生物。

Project Summary: Bacterial pathogens in water pose a large world-wide threat to public health, especially for the population with weak immune system. While current disinfection strategies aim at mitigating the presence of pathogens, they do not completely eradicate the growth of microorganisms. This raises a question as to what happens to the surviving microorganisms after different disinfection processes. It is still unclear that if these surviving microorganisms are the same, less or more hazardous than the ones before disinfection. The answer to that question has a significant impact on microbial safety. As regards effective disinfection, what really matters is reduction of pathogenicity instead of the concentration of microorganisms. The long-term goal is to gain a better understanding on pathogenicity and susceptibility to antibiotics of surviving microorganisms after disinfection and elucidate the role of regulatory defense systems of surviving microorganisms. The proposed research project seeks to reveal the characteristic variations of bacteria before and after different disinfection processes by conducting systematic study to provide guidance regarding disinfection strategies. The primary objectives of this proposal will be achieved by addressing the following specific aims: Specific Aim 1. Investigate microbial community structure and functions in raw and treated water after various disinfections. Specific Aim 2. Determine the virulence and antibiotic resistance of surviving bacteria after disinfections. Specific Aim 3. Elucidate the role of disinfectants in horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors. Achieving the above aims will provide fundamental knowledge on the characteristics of surviving bacteria after disinfections which is vital to public health. The enhanced knowledge will facilitate the development of novel disinfection strategies to reduce the pathogenicity of surviving bacteria and minimize the spread of bacteria with virulence and antibiotic resistance into water. These studies will also benefit the future R01 grant, where we will explore the correlations between disinfectant strategies and pathogenicity of surviving microorganisms and elucidate the role of regulatory defense systems of surviving microorganisms.