Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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https://hdl.handle.net/10919/23747
The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is ranked in the top 10 accredited civil and environmental engineering departments by the US News and World Report survey, is one of the largest programs in the United States. The Department has 46 full-time faculty, 657 undergraduate, and 400 graduate students. Civil engineers are the principal designers, constructors, operators, and caretakers of many of the constructed facilities and systems that contribute to the high quality of life enjoyed in the United States. The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers educational programs in all areas of civil engineering practice.

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Browsing Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering by Subject "0502 Environmental Science and Management"

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    Evaluation of Metagenomic-Enabled Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance at a Conventional Wastewater Treatment Plant
    Majeed, Haniyyah J.; Riquelme, Maria V.; Davis, Benjamin C.; Gupta, Suraj; Angeles, Luisa F.; Aga, Diana S.; Garner, Emily; Pruden, Amy; Vikesland, Peter J. (Frontiers, 2021-05-13)
    Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) receive a confluence of sewage containing antimicrobials, antibiotic resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and pathogens and thus are a key point of interest for antibiotic resistance surveillance. WWTP monitoring has the potential to inform with respect to the antibiotic resistance status of the community served as well as the potential for ARGs to escape treatment. However, there is lack of agreement regarding suitable sampling frequencies and monitoring targets to facilitate comparison within and among individual WWTPs. The objective of this study was to comprehensively evaluate patterns in metagenomic-derived indicators of antibiotic resistance through various stages of treatment at a conventional WWTP for the purpose of informing local monitoring approaches that are also informative for global comparison. Relative abundance of total ARGs decreased by ∼50% from the influent to the effluent, with each sampling location defined by a unique resistome (i.e., total ARG) composition. However, 90% of the ARGs found in the effluent were also detected in the influent, while the effluent ARG-pathogen taxonomic linkage patterns identified in assembled metagenomes were more similar to patterns in regional clinical surveillance data than the patterns identified in the influent. Analysis of core and discriminatory resistomes and general ARG trends across the eight sampling events (i.e., tendency to be removed, increase, decrease, or be found in the effluent only), along with quantification of ARGs of clinical concern, aided in identifying candidate ARGs for surveillance. Relative resistome risk characterization further provided a comprehensive metric for predicting the relative mobility of ARGs and likelihood of being carried in pathogens and can help to prioritize where to focus future monitoring and mitigation. Most antibiotics that were subject to regional resistance testing were also found in the WWTP, with the total antibiotic load decreasing by ∼40–50%, but no strong correlations were found between antibiotics and corresponding ARGs. Overall, this study provides insight into how metagenomic data can be collected and analyzed for surveillance of antibiotic resistance at WWTPs, suggesting that effluent is a beneficial monitoring point with relevance both to the local clinical condition and for assessing efficacy of wastewater treatment in reducing risk of disseminating antibiotic resistance.
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    Integrated Metagenomic Assessment of Multiple Pre-harvest Control Points on Lettuce Resistomes at Field-Scale
    Wind, Lauren L.; Keenum, Ishi M.; Gupta, Suraj; Ray, Partha P.; Knowlton, Katharine F.; Ponder, Monica A.; Hession, W. Cully; Pruden, Amy; Krometis, Leigh-Anne H. (Frontiers, 2021-07-09)
    An integrated understanding of factors influencing the occurrence, distribution, and fate of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in vegetable production systems is needed to inform the design and development of strategies for mitigating the potential for antibiotic resistance propagation in the food chain. The goal of the present study was to holistically track antibiotic resistance and associated microbiomes at three distinct pre-harvest control points in an agroecosystem in order to identify the potential impacts of key agricultural management strategies. Samples were collected over the course of a single growing season (67 days) from field-scale plots amended with various organic and inorganic amendments at agronomic rates. Dairy-derived manure and compost amendment samples (n = 14), soil samples (n = 27), and lettuce samples (n = 12) were analyzed via shotgun metagenomics to assess multiple pre-harvest factors as hypothetical control points that shape lettuce resistomes. Pre-harvest factors of interest included manure collection during/post antibiotic use, manure composting, and soil amended with organic (stockpiled manure/compost) versus chemical fertilizer. Microbial community resistome and taxonomic compositions were unique from amendment to soil to lettuce surface according to dissimilarity analysis. The highest resistome alpha diversity (i.e., unique ARGs, n = 642) was detected in amendment samples prior to soil application, while the composted manure had the lowest total ARG relative abundance (i.e., 16S rRNA gene-normalized). Regardless of amendment type, soils acted as an apparent ecological buffer, i.e., soil resistome and taxonomic profiles returned to background conditions 67 d-post amendment application. Effects of amendment conditions surprisingly re-emerged in lettuce phyllosphere resistomes, with the highest total ARG relative abundances recovered on the surface of lettuce plants grown in organically-fertilized soils (i.e., compost- and manure-amended soils). Co-occurrence analysis identified 55 unique ARGs found both in the soil amendments and on lettuce surfaces. Among these, arnA and pmrF were the most abundant ARGs co-occurring with mobile genetic elements (MGE). Other prominent ARG-MGE co-occurrences throughout this pre-harvest lettuce production chain included: TetM to transposon (Clostridiodies difficile) in the manure amendment and TriC to plasmid (Ralstonia solanacearum) on the lettuce surfaces. This suggests that, even with imposing manure management and post-amendment wait periods in agricultural systems, ARGs originating from manure can still be found on crop surfaces. This study demonstrates a comprehensive approach to identifying key control points for the propagation of ARGs in vegetable production systems, identifying potential ARG-MGE combinations that could inform future surveillance. The findings suggest that additional pre-harvest and potentially post-harvest interventions may be warranted to minimize risk of propagating antibiotic resistance in the food chain.