Abstract Title

Metagenomic characterisation of cyanobacterial bloom development within wastewater treatment ponds

Start Date

24-5-2022 5:45 PM

End Date

24-5-2022 7:00 PM

Abstract

Projected increases in the global population requires a corresponding increase in the securing and provisioning of water resources. Treated wastewater is a suitable supplementary source of both potable and non-potable water that many countries employ to alleviate pressure on freshwater reserves. The wastewater reclamation process is often hindered by the development of recurrent and persistent proliferations of toxigenic cyanobacteria that thrive in the eutrophic conditions at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Whole metagenome sequencing (mWGS) enables for the comprehensive taxonomic and functional characterisation of cyanobacterial bloom events. To analyse the pervasiveness of cyanobacterial bloom formation in WWTPs the microbiome of both surface water and sediment from three treatment ponds was characterised over a five year period (2016-2020). Taxonomic identification on unassembled reads was conducted using KRAKEN2. The metaWRAP pipeline was used for metagenome-assembled genome construction, binning and taxonomic identification. mWGS analysis revealed that the recurrent cyanobacterial blooms were cosmopolitan, comprised of Oscillatoriales (17%), Synechococcales (21%) and Nostocales (39%). This differs considerably from previous amplicon analysis from the same time period which indicated that blooms were predominantly Microcystis. Mapping of the metagenomic reads against the COG database was used to assess which cellular processes are enriched across seasons and during bloom events.

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May 24th, 5:45 PM May 24th, 7:00 PM

Metagenomic characterisation of cyanobacterial bloom development within wastewater treatment ponds

Projected increases in the global population requires a corresponding increase in the securing and provisioning of water resources. Treated wastewater is a suitable supplementary source of both potable and non-potable water that many countries employ to alleviate pressure on freshwater reserves. The wastewater reclamation process is often hindered by the development of recurrent and persistent proliferations of toxigenic cyanobacteria that thrive in the eutrophic conditions at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Whole metagenome sequencing (mWGS) enables for the comprehensive taxonomic and functional characterisation of cyanobacterial bloom events. To analyse the pervasiveness of cyanobacterial bloom formation in WWTPs the microbiome of both surface water and sediment from three treatment ponds was characterised over a five year period (2016-2020). Taxonomic identification on unassembled reads was conducted using KRAKEN2. The metaWRAP pipeline was used for metagenome-assembled genome construction, binning and taxonomic identification. mWGS analysis revealed that the recurrent cyanobacterial blooms were cosmopolitan, comprised of Oscillatoriales (17%), Synechococcales (21%) and Nostocales (39%). This differs considerably from previous amplicon analysis from the same time period which indicated that blooms were predominantly Microcystis. Mapping of the metagenomic reads against the COG database was used to assess which cellular processes are enriched across seasons and during bloom events.