AUTHOR=Wen Sun , Yang Zhang , Biao Peng , Jing Wang 

TITLE=Effect mechanism of nutrients on pathogenic bacteria at the sediment-water interface in eutrophic water

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1396772

DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2024.1396772

ISSN=2296-665X

ABSTRACT=<p>This research analyzed the structure of microbial groups in the sediment–water interface (SWI) and the relationship between the gene expression levels of two typical pathogenic bacteria <italic>Escherichia coli</italic> and <italic>Enterococcus</italic>, and nutrient levels using modern biological techniques. The nutrient distribution at the SWI revealed significantly higher nutrient content in the sediment compared to the overlying water. According to Fick’s first law, the release flux indicated that PO<sub>4</sub><sup>3−</sup>-P in the upper reaches of the reservoir was deposited from the overlying water, while the release rate of NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N, in addition to sedimentation, was significantly greater than that of PO<sub>4</sub><sup>3−</sup>P. The microbial community structure was primarily dominated by the genera <italic>Methyloparacoccus</italic>, <italic>Methylomonas</italic>, and <italic>Arenimonas</italic>. The abundances of <italic>E. coli</italic> and <italic>Enterococcus</italic> were higher in the surface sediment than in the overlying water. Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that <italic>E. coli</italic> had a significant positive correlation with total nitrogen (TN) (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) and total phosphorus (TP) (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), whereas <italic>Enterococcus</italic> had a very significant positive correlation with TN and TP (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.01).</p>