Unravelling the importance of the eukaryotic and bacterial communities and their relationship with Legionella spp. ecology in cooling towers: a complex network.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cooling towers are a major source of large community-associated outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease, a severe pneumonia. This disease is contracted when inhaling aerosols that are contaminated with bacteria from the genus Legionella, most importantly Legionella pneumophila. How cooling towers support the growth of this bacterium is still not well understood. As Legionella species are intracellular parasites of protozoa, it is assumed that protozoan community in cooling towers play an important role in Legionella ecology and outbreaks. However, the exact mechanism of how the eukaryotic community contributes to Legionella ecology is still unclear. Therefore, we used 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to characterize the eukaryotic communities of 18 different cooling towers.

SUBMITTER: Paranjape K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7664032 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature