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@ARTICLE{Werner:907340,
author = {Werner, Katharina A. and Poehlein, Anja and Schneider,
Dominik and El-Said, Khaliel and Wöhrmann, Michael and
Linkert, Isabel and Hübner, Tobias and Brüggemann, Nicolas
and Prost, Katharina and Daniel, Rolf and Grohmann,
Elisabeth},
title = {{T}hermophilic {C}omposting of {H}uman {F}eces:
{D}evelopment of {B}acterial {C}ommunity {C}omposition and
{A}ntimicrobial {R}esistance {G}ene {P}ool},
journal = {Frontiers in microbiology},
volume = {13},
issn = {1664-302X},
address = {Lausanne},
publisher = {Frontiers Media},
reportid = {FZJ-2022-01975},
pages = {824834},
year = {2022},
abstract = {In times of climate change, practicing sustainable,
climate-resilient, and productive agriculture is of
primordial importance. Compost from different resources, now
treated as wastes, could be one form of sustainable
fertilizer creating a resilience of agriculture to the
adverse effects of climate change. However, the safety of
the produced compost regarding human pathogens,
pharmaceuticals, and related resistance genes must be
considered. We have assessed the effect of thermophilic
composting of dry toilet contents, green cuttings, and
straw, with and without biochar, on fecal indicators, the
bacterial community, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs).
Mature compost samples were analyzed regarding fecal
indicator organisms, revealing low levels of Escherichia
coli that are in line with German regulations for
fertilizers. However, one finding of Salmonella spp.
exceeded the threshold value. Cultivation of bacteria from
the mature compost resulted in 200 isolates with $36.5\%$ of
biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) species. The majority is known as
opportunistic pathogens that likewise occur in different
environments. A quarter of the isolated BSL-2 strains
exhibited multiresistance to different classes of
antibiotics. Molecular analysis of total DNA before and
after composting revealed changes in bacterial community
composition and ARGs. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
showed a decline of the two most abundant phyla
Proteobacteria (start: $36–48\%,$ end: $27–30\%)$ and
Firmicutes (start: $13–33\%,$ end: $12–16\%),$ whereas
the abundance of Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, and
Planctomycetes rose. Groups containing many human pathogens
decreased during composting, like Pseudomonadales, Bacilli
with Bacillus spp., or Staphylococcaceae and
Enterococcaceae. Gene-specific PCR showed a decline in the
number of detectable ARGs from 15 before to 8 after
composting. The results reveal the importance of
sufficiently high temperatures lasting for a sufficiently
long period during the thermophilic phase of composting for
reducing Salmonella to levels matching the criteria for
fertilizers. However, most severe human pathogens that were
targeted by isolation conditions were not detected.
Cultivation-independent analyses also indicated a decline in
bacterial orders comprising many pathogenic bacteria, as
well as a decrease in ARGs. In summary, thermophilic
composting could be a promising approach for producing
hygienically safe organic fertilizer from ecological
sanitation.},
cin = {IBG-3},
ddc = {570},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)IBG-3-20101118},
pnm = {2173 - Agro-biogeosystems: controls, feedbacks and impact
(POF4-217)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-2173},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
UT = {WOS:000768039900001},
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2022.824834},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/907340},
}