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Application of Faecalibacterium 16S rDNA genetic marker for accurate identification of duck faeces

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to judge the legal duty of pollution liabilities by assessing a duck faeces-specific marker, which can exclude distractions of residual bacteria from earlier contamination accidents. With the gene sequencing technology and bioinformatics method, we completed the comparative analysis of Faecalibacterium sequences, which were associated with ducks and other animal species, and found the sequences unique to duck faeces. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and agarose gel electrophoresis techniques were used to verify the reliability of both human and duck faeces-specific primers. The duck faeces-specific primers generated an amplicon of 141 bp from 43.3 % of duck faecal samples, 0 % of control samples and 100 % of sewage wastewater samples that contained duck faeces. We present here the initial evidence of Faecalibacterium-based applicability as human faeces-specificity in China. Meanwhile, this study represents the initial report of a Faecalibacterium marker for duck faeces and suggests an independent or supplementary environmental biotechnology of microbial source tracking (MST).

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Science and Technology Supporting Program of China (Grant Nos. 2012BAJ25B06 and 2012BAJ25B09), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51208533), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 106112015CDJZR235504), a sub-topic from the National Water Pollution Control and Management Technology Major Projects of China (2008ZX07425-003-01) as well as the Chongqing Engineering Laboratory in Vascular Implants, the National ‘111 Plan’ Base (B06023) and the Public Experiment Center of State Bioindustrial Base (Chongqing), China. We also thank Mrs Baoyun Zhang, Aixi Liu and Lei Nie from Chongqing University for their efforts in the early stages of this study, and Mr. Sheng Zhong from National Urban Water Quality Monitoring Network Stations at Chongqing for providing most samples of the water source.

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    1. Key Laboratory for Biorheological Science and Technology of Ministry of Education (Chongqing University), State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Vascular Implants (Chongqing), Bioengineering College of Chongqing University, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

      Da Sun, Chuanren Duan, Yaning Shang, Yunxia Ma, Lili Tan & Guixue Wang

    2. Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, College of Urban Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

      Jun Zhai & Xu Gao

    3. Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment of CAS, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, China

      Jingsong Guo

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    1. Da Sun
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    2. Chuanren Duan
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    3. Yaning Shang
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    Da Sun and Chuanren Duan contributed equally to this work.

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    Sun, D., Duan, C., Shang, Y. et al. Application of Faecalibacterium 16S rDNA genetic marker for accurate identification of duck faeces. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 7639–7647 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-6024-z

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