Evaluating Bacteriophage P22 as a Tracer in a Complex Surface Water System: The Grand River, Michigan

Abstract

Viruses are important pathogens in both marine and fresh water environments. There is a strong interest in using bacteriophages as tracers because of their role as model viruses, since dissolved chemical tracers may not adequately describe the behavior of viruses that are suspended colloids. Despite a large number of studies that examined the transport of bacteriophages in the subsurface environment, few studies examined phage transport in large and complex surface water systems. In this paper we report the results of a dual tracer study on a 40 km reach of the Grand River, the longest river in Michigan, and we examine the performance of bacteriophage P22 relative to a chemical tracer (Rhodamine WT). Our analysis based on the transient storage (TS) model indicated that P22 can be successfully used as a tracer in complex surface water environments. Estimated P22 inactivation rates were found to be in the range 0.27-0.57 per day (0.12-0.25 log10 per day). The highest inactivation rate was found in a reach with high suspended solids concentration, relatively low dissolved organic carbon content, and sediment with high clay content. Estimated TS model parameters for both tracers were found to be consistent with surficial geology and land use patterns. Maximum storage zone sizes for the two tracers were found in different river reaches, indicating that different processes contributed to TS within the same reach for the two tracers. This model can be used to examine the arrival times and concentrations of human viral pathogens released from untreated sewage at recreational areas.

Histo-Blood Group Antigen-Like Substances of Human Enteric Bacteria as Specific Adsorbents for Human Noroviruses

“…Viruses associated with organic or inorganic particles are protected from inactivation by chlorine (49), UV (40), and salinity (osmotic shock) (50) because these exogenous stresses are impeded by the entities that capture the viral particles. Furthermore, enteric viruses associated with environmental suspended solids may be transported in a different manner from freely moving virions (51,52). Thus, HuNoV particles associated with HBGA-positive EPS that is attached to or disengaged from enteric bacterial cells must have different fates from free viral particles.…”

Virus removal and inactivation in a hybrid microfiltration–UV process with a photocatalytic membrane

“…P22 is a dsDNA virus [21][22][23][24][25] that has been used as a surrogate for human viruses to study their attenuation [25] and their fate in sewage [26]. The bacteriophage was propagated by inoculating 25 mL trypticase soy broth with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2 and allowing for growth at 37°C.…”

Criteria for Selection of Surrogates Used To Study the Fate and Control of Pathogens in the Environment

“…Exposure to UV-C and UV-B wavelengths causes cross-links among nucleotides (24,64), while other UV-A light forms oxidized species in solution which can be lethal to microorganisms (38). UV was an important consideration in modeling virus transport in a natural river system using a bacteriophage as a surrogate (71). In engineered systems, MS-2 coliphage, E. coli, and Bacillus subtilis have been used as surrogates to measure the UV light dose for water disinfection (81).…”