bioRxivMicrobiologyPreprint
Bacterial metatranscriptomes in wastewater can differentiate virally infected human populations
R. A. Salido, C. Martino, S. Karthikeyan, S. Huang, G. Rahman, A. Gonzalez, L. S. Zaramela, K. L. Beck, S. Bhute, K. Cantrell, A. P. Carrieri, S. Farmer, N. Haiminen, G. Humphrey, H.-C. Kim, L. Parida, R. A. Richter, Y. Vazquez-Baeza, K. Zengler, A. Swafford, A. Bartko, R. Knight
Abstract
Monitoring wastewater samples at building-level resolution screens large populations for SARS-CoV-2, prioritizing testing and isolation efforts. Here we perform untargeted metatranscriptomics on virally-enriched wastewater samples from 10 locations on the UC San Diego campus, demonstrating that resulting bacterial taxonomic and functional profiles discriminate SARS-CoV-2 status even without direct detection of viral transcripts. Our proof-of-principle reveals emergent threats through changes in the human microbiome, suggesting new approaches for untargeted wastewater-based epidemiology.
- organism: human
- assay: metagenomics
- research focus: host-pathogen & immune response
- approach: experimental assay
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