Open AccessOne step forwards for the routine use of high‐throughput DNA sequencing in environmental monitoring. An efficient and standardizable method to maximize the detection of environmental bacteria
Author(s) -
Bruno Antonia,
Sandionigi Anna,
Galimberti Andrea,
Siani Eleonora,
Labra Massimo,
Cocuzza Clementina,
Ferri Emanuele,
Casiraghi Maurizio
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
microbiologyopen
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.881
H-Index - 36
ISSN - 2045-8827
DOI - 10.1002/mbo3.421
Subject(s) - environmental dna , workflow , dna extraction , throughput , environmental monitoring , biochemical engineering , filtration (mathematics) , computer science , environmental science , dna sequencing , bacteria , process engineering , environmental engineering , dna , engineering , biology , ecology , database , polymerase chain reaction , mathematics , biodiversity , biochemistry , telecommunications , statistics , genetics , gene , wireless
We propose an innovative, repeatable, and reliable experimental workflow to concentrate and detect environmental bacteria in drinking water using molecular techniques. We first concentrated bacteria in water samples using tangential flow filtration and then we evaluated two methods of environmental DNA extraction. We performed tests on both artificially contaminated water samples and real drinking water samples. The efficiency of the experimental workflow was measured through qPCR . The successful applicability of the high‐throughput DNA sequencing ( HTS ) approach was demonstrated on drinking water samples. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of our approach in high‐throughput‐based studies, and we suggest incorporating it in monitoring strategies to have a better representation of the microbial community. In the recent years, HTS techniques have become key tools in the study of microbial communities. To make the leap from academic laboratories to the routine monitoring (e.g., water treatment plants laboratories), we here propose an experimental workflow suitable for the introduction of HTS as a standard method for detecting environmental bacteria.