Chasing Waterborne Pathogens in Antarctic Human-Made and Natural Environments, with Special Reference to Legionella spp

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Shimada, Sho, Nakai, Ryosuke, Aoki, Kotaro, Shimoeda, Norifumi, Ohno, Giichiro, Kudoh, Sakae, Imura, Satoshi, Watanabe, Kentaro, Miyazaki, Yasunari, Ishii, Yoshikazu, Tateda, Kazuhiro
• Other Authors: McBain, Andrew J., National Institute of Polar Research
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2021
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.02247-20; https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.02247-20

We comprehensively examined the localization of potential waterborne pathogens in the Antarctic human-made and natural aquatic environment with special focus on Legionella spp. Some potential pathogenic genera were detected with low relative abundance in the natural environment, but most detections of these genera occurred in the station. Through detailed community analysis of Legionella spp., we revealed that a variety of Legionella spp. was widely distributed in the Antarctic environment and that they were phylogenetically distinct from the described species. This fact indicates that there are still diverse unknown Legionella spp. in Antarctica, and this genus encompasses a greater variety of species in low-temperature environments than is currently known. In contrast, amplicon sequence variants closely related to known Legionella spp. with reported pathogenicity were almost solely localized in the station, suggesting that human-made environments alter the Legionella community.