Next Generation High Throughput Sequencing to Assess Microbial Communities: An Application Based on Water Quality

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 106; no. 5; pp. 727 - 733
• Main Authors: Wani, Gowher A., Khan, Mohd Asgar, Dar, Mudasir A., Shah, Manzoor A., Reshi, Zafar A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Biomonitoring; Chemical pollution; Community composition; Contaminants; Cultivation techniques; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA sequencing; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Focused Review; Genetic analysis; Genetic diversity; Genomes; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Humans; Metagenomics; Microbial activity; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Microorganisms; Next-generation sequencing; Phylogeny; Pollution; Population genetics; Population structure; Soil Science & Conservation; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality; Metagenomics; Bacterial community composition; Next generation sequencing; Public health; Water quality
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-021-03195-7

Traditional techniques to identify different contaminants (biological or chemical) in the waters are slow, laborious, and can require specialized expertise. Hence, the rapid determination of water quality using more sensitive and reliable metagenomic based approaches attains special importance. Metagenomics deals with the study of genetic material that is recovered from microbial communities present in environmental samples. In traditional techniques cultivation-based methodologies were used to describe the diversity of microorganisms in environmental samples. It has failed to function as a robust marker because of limited taxonomic and phylogenetic implications. In this backdrop, high-throughput DNA sequencing approaches have proven very powerful in microbial source tracking because of investigating the full variety of genome-based analysis such as microbial genetic diversity and population structure played by them. Next generation sequencing technologies can reveal a greater proportion of microbial communities that have not been reported earlier by traditional techniques. The present review highlights the shift from traditional techniques for the basic study of community composition to next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms and their potential applications to the biomonitoring of water quality in relation to human health.