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Talks and Poster Presentations (with Proceedings-Entry):

M. Burtscher, A.H. Farnleitner, F. Zibuschka, G. Reischer, G. Lindner, R. Hornek, R.L. Mach:
"Heterotrophic plate count (HPC) versus in situ community eubaterial 16S rDNA amplicon profiles from drinking water reveal distinct spatial and temporal allocations in a distribution net";
Poster: 10th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology ISME-10 Microbial Planet: Subsurface to Space, Cancun, Mexico; 08-22-2004 - 08-27-2004; in: "Book Of Abstracts", (2004), 322.



English abstract:
HETEROTROPHIC PLATE COUNT (HPC) VERSUS IN SITU COMMUNITY EUBACTERIAL 16S RDNA AMPLICON PROFILES FROM DRINKING WATER REVEAL DISTINCT SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ALLOCATIONS IN A DISTRIBUTION NET

M.M. Burtscher , A.H. Farnleitner, F. Zibuschka, G. Reischer, G. Lindner, R. Hornek, R.L. Mach


1 Institute of Chemical Engineering, Division of Applied Biochemistry and Gene Technology, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria; 2 Institute for Water Provision, Water Ecology and Waste Management, Department for Sanitary Engineering and Water Pollution Control, University of Agricultural Sciences, Vienna, Austria
E-mail: mburtsch@mail.zserv.tuwien.ac.at
Qualitative HPC analysis was entirely based on typing of HPC isolates yielding superior data of high taxonomical resolution but demanding an enormous amount of bacterial isolates to cover the spatial variability of one system. In order to provide fast and efficient qualitative approaches, we applied a eubacterial PCR-DGGE based screening method to the rapid analysis of the total HPC community composition. This technique enables simultaneous comparison of the HPC community recovered by cultivation with the respective total eubacterial in situ community. In this study we applied the profiling approach to various drinking water samples recovered from different sampling locations of a distribution system. Bacterial populations recovered from HPC versus corresponding in situ communities were fundamentally different, as indicated by profile comparisons and sequencing. HPC 16S rDNA sequences could easily be allocated to well known cultivable taxa, whereas 16S rDNA sequences from the eubacterial in situ community indicated distinct members of the aquatic micro-flora. While in situ community profiles were apparently governed by the quality of the water source supply (temporal discrimination), the HPC profiles showed a correlation with respective sampling locations in the distribution net itself (spatial allocation). These results were supported by respective HPC and bacterial direct counts. The given example demonstrates the usefulness of eubacterial populations profiling to differentiate between autochthonous HPC re-growth and allochthounous HPC contamination events in water distribution systems. Knowledge on this may be considered important as different management strategies have to be employed to maintain sufficient microbial drinking water quality.

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.