Tietê Microbiome: ecological role, biotechnological applications and health

• Grant number: 22/03998-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Welington Luiz de Araújo
• Grantee: Welington Luiz de Araújo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Gabriel Padilla ; Maria Carolina Quecine Verdi
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/13486-3 - Tietê Microbiome: ecological role, biotechnological application and health, BP.TT; 24/03450-1 - Tietê Microbiome: ecological role and biotechnological application, BP.TT

Abstract

The One Health concept proposes the integration among environment, human and animal health as well as public policies, emphasizing the need to think about human health and the environment in an inseparable way. In this context, the Tietê River Basin crosses the State of São Paulo from east to west, passing through conservation areas, agriculture and livestock and intensely urbanized and industrialized areas, affecting, and being affected by the population and the surrounding environment. Thus, it is important to characterize its microbial community (taxonomic ad functionally) and the environmental factors that affect water quality and microbial diversity in the Tietê River Basin. The release of untreated or partially treated effluents and the presence of riparian vegetation can interfere both in the composition of the microbial community and in the quality of the water. The presence of vegetation on the banks can retain the soil (avoiding erosion), filtering residues of agrochemicals used in agriculture in nearby areas. It is known that planktonic and benthic microbiological diversity of rivers and lakes significantly affect water quality, and, on the other hand, water quality affects this microbiological diversity. Thus, in the Tietê River Basin, microbial diversity can be determined by the quality of the soil and vegetation cover of the headwaters that form the basin and, later, by the release of effluents, which can result in a greater abundance of potentially pathogenic species to animals and to humans. Thus, the aim of this work will be to identify and characterize the microbial community from different points of the Tietê River basin, to evaluate the role of riparian vegetation and the release of effluents in the microbial diversity of the water and sediment and to identify the presence of pathogenic or multi-resistant isolates. This search assumes that the taxonomic and functional diversity of planktonic and benthic microorganisms in different contrasting points of the Tietê River Basin is variable and involves the presence of isolates with different biochemical profiles adapted to environmental physical - chemical variation. Furthermore, through a metagenomic approach it will be possible to identify genes and metabolic pathways involved in microbial adaptation to this environment, allowing the identification of markers (taxonomic or functional) associated with specific impacts on this environment. (AU)