Wastewater sequencing reveals community and variant dynamics of the collective human virome
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Wastewater is a discarded human by-product, but its analysis may help us understand the health of populations. Epidemiologists first analyzed wastewater to track outbreaks of poliovirus decades ago, but so-called wastewater-based epidemiology was reinvigorated to monitor SARS-CoV-2 levels while bypassing the difficulties and pit falls of individual testing. Current approaches overlook the activity of most human viruses and preclude a deeper understanding of human virome community dynamics. Here, we conduct a comprehensive sequencing-based analysis of 363 longitudinal wastewater samples from ten distinct sites in two major cities. Critical to detection is the use of a viral probe capture set targeting thousands of viral species or variants. Over 450 distinct pathogenic viruses from 28 viral families are observed, most of which have never been detected in such samples. Sequencing reads of established pathogens and emerging viruses correlate to clinical data sets of SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, and monkeypox viruses, outlining the public health utility of this approach. Viral communities are tightly organized by space and time. Finally, the most abundant human viruses yield sequence variant information consistent with regional spread and evolution. We reveal the viral landscape of human wastewater and its potential to improve our understanding of outbreaks, transmission, and its effects on overall population health.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Michael Tisza, Sara Javornik Cregeen, Vasanthi Avadhanula, Ping Zhang, Tulin Ayvaz, Karen Feliz, Kristi L. Hoffman, Justin R. Clark, Austen Terwilliger, Matthew C. Ross, Juwan Cormier, Hannah Moreno, Li Wang, Katelyn Payne, David Henke, Catherine Troisi, Fuqing Wu, Janelle Rios, Jennifer Deegan, Blake Hansen, John Balliew, Anna Gitter, Kehe Zhang, Runze Li, Cici X. Bauer, Kristina D. Mena, Pedro A. Piedra, Joseph F. Petrosino, Eric Boerwinkle, Anthony W. Maresso
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,290
OpenAlex ID: W4388033386