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  • Title: Microbial community adaptation to quaternary ammonium biocides as revealed by metagenomics.
    Author: Oh S, Tandukar M, Pavlostathis SG, Chain PS, Konstantinidis KT.
    Journal: Environ Microbiol; 2013 Oct; 15(10):2850-64. PubMed ID: 23731340.
    Abstract:
    Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) represent widely used cationic biocides that persist in natural environments. Although microbial degradation, sensitivity and resistance to QACs have been extensively documented, a quantitative understanding of how whole communities adapt to QAC exposure remain elusive. To gain insights into these issues, we exposed a microbial community from a contaminated river sediment to varied levels of benzalkonium chlorides (BACs, a family of QACs) for 3 years. Comparative metagenomic analysis showed that the BAC-fed communities were dramatically decreased in phylogenetic diversity compared with the control (no BAC exposure), resulting presumably from BAC toxicity, and dominated by Pseudomonas species (> 50% of the total). Time-course metagenomics revealed that community adaptation occurred primarily via selective enrichment of BAC-degrading Pseudomonas populations, particularly P. nitroreducens, and secondarily via amino acid substitutions and horizontal transfer of a few selected genes in the Pseudomonas populations, including a gene encoding a PAS/PAC sensor protein and ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase genes. P. nitroreducens isolates were reproducibly recoverable from communities after prolonged periods of no-BAC exposure, suggesting that they are robust BAC-degraders. Our study provides new insights into the mechanisms and tempo of microbial community adaptation to QAC exposure and has implications for treating QACs in biological engineered systems.
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