Quenching by sodium thiosulfate does not influence 16S rRNA gene sequencing profiles of reclaimed water from three sites in the Mid-Atlantic, United States

Sarah M Allard; Sultana Solaiman; Mary Theresa Callahan; Anthony Bui; Hillary Craddock; Joseph Haymaker; Derek Foust; Rico Duncan; Eoghan Smyth; Emmanuel F Mongodin; Fawzy Hashem; Eric May; Shirley A Micallef; Amy R Sapkota

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2019.02.022

Quenching by sodium thiosulfate does not influence 16S rRNA gene sequencing profiles of reclaimed water from three sites in the Mid-Atlantic, United States

Environ Res. 2019 May:172:296-300. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.02.022. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Affiliations

¹ Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States.
² Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States.
³ Department of Agriculture, Food, and Resource Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, United States.
⁴ Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
⁵ Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States; Center for Food Safety and Security Systems, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States.
⁶ Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 30822563
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.02.022

Abstract

A quenching agent is commonly added to chlorinated, reclaimed water during sample collection to prevent chlorine-mediated die-off of viable microbiota. However, the effect of quenching on downstream 16S rRNA-based bacterial community analyses is unclear. We conducted a side-by-side comparison of 16S rRNA sequencing data from reclaimed water samples quenched with sodium thiosulfate and non-quenched samples. Our data showed that 16 S rRNA processing and sequencing methods, and resulting bacterial profiles, were not negatively impacted by quenching.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; Quenching; Reclaimed water; Sodium thiosulfate; Water microbiome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
Microbiota* / drug effects
Microbiota* / genetics
Mid-Atlantic Region
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
Thiosulfates* / chemistry
Thiosulfates* / pharmacology
Water / chemistry
Water Microbiology*

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Thiosulfates
Water
sodium thiosulfate