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Long-term influences of pipe materials on bacterial communities of matured biofilms (> 40 years’ old) in drinking water distribution systems
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Researchers examined mature biofilms (over 40 years old) on PVC, cast iron, and asbestos cement pipes in an unchlorinated Dutch drinking water system, finding that despite initial differences, bacterial communities converge to similar compositions over time regardless of pipe material, suggesting a long-term harmonization process driven by environmental selection.
Pipe materials appear to play an important role in the development of biofilms in drinking water distribution systems. However, there is controversy as to whether pipe materials shape the composition and diversity of bacterial communities in biofilms. To investigate the long-term effects of pipe materials on biofilms, triplicate samples of mature biofilms on unplasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC-U), grey cast iron and asbestos cement (pipe age > 40 years) were obtained from three areas of an unchlorinated drinking water distribution system in the Netherlands. Illumina sequencing was performed and 773 OTUs (730 OTUs-814 OTUs) were detected within the biofilms on the three pipe materials, all of which were dominated by Proteobacteria (36.2%-46.1%). Both the alpha and beta diversity results showed that the bacterial communities of the biofilms formed on different pipe materials were highly similar. The neutral community model revealed that the assembly of the biofilm communities was governed by environmental selection rather than neutral processes. Among the 142 shared OTUs between the water and biofilm samples, there were 25 enriched OTUs (e.g., OTU7, assigned as Nitrospira spp.), which accounted for 62.6% of the total sequences, while 16 OTUs were disadvantaged (e.g., OTU14 and OTU40, assigned as Hyphomicrobiaceae), accounting for 2.2% of the sequences. Based on the findings, we propose and discuss a harmonisation process by which biofilms with significant differences due to the pipe material harmonize over time resulting in biofilms with similar bacterial communities. Our findings provide valuable insights into long-term biofilm development, bridging an essential gap in our current understanding of the influence of pipe materials on biofilm communities. These findings also highlight the importance of long-term studies and point to a potentially masked harmonizing process during biofilm development over years/decades.
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