Bacterial histo-blood group antigens contributing to genotype-dependent removal of human noroviruses with a microfiltration membrane

Mohan Amarasiri; Satoshi Hashiba; Takayuki Miura; Toyoko Nakagomi; Osamu Nakagomi; Satoshi Ishii; Satoshi Okabe; Daisuke Sano

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.04.018

Bacterial histo-blood group antigens contributing to genotype-dependent removal of human noroviruses with a microfiltration membrane

Water Res. 2016 May 15:95:383-91. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.04.018. Epub 2016 Apr 12.

Authors

Mohan Amarasiri¹, Satoshi Hashiba¹, Takayuki Miura², Toyoko Nakagomi³, Osamu Nakagomi³, Satoshi Ishii⁴, Satoshi Okabe¹, Daisuke Sano⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North 13, West 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
² New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHe), Tohoku University, 6-6-04 Aramaki Aza Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan.
³ Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
⁴ Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, 258 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁵ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North 13, West 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan. Electronic address: dsano@eng.hokudai.ac.jp.

PMID: 27095709
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.04.018

Abstract

We demonstrated the genotype-dependent removal of human norovirus particles with a microfiltration (MF) membrane in the presence of bacteria bearing histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs). Three genotypes (GII.3, GII.4, and GII.6) of norovirus-like particles (NoVLPs) were mixed with three bacterial strains (Enterobacter sp. SENG-6, Escherichia coli O86:K61:B7, and Staphylococcus epidermidis), respectively, and the mixture was filtered with an MF membrane having a nominal pore size of 0.45 μm. All NoVLP genotypes were rejected by the MF membrane in the presence of Enterobacter sp. SENG-6, which excreted HBGAs as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). This MF membrane removal of NoVLPs was not significant when EPS was removed from cells of Enterobacter sp. SENG-6. GII.6 NoVLP was not rejected with the MF membrane in the presence of E. coli O86:K61:B7, but the removal of EPS of E. coli O86:K61:B7 increased the removal efficiency due to the interaction of NoVLPs with the exposed B-antigen in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of E. coli O86:K61:B7. No MF membrane removal of all three genotypes was observed when S. epidermidis, an HBGA-negative strain, was mixed with NoVLPs. These results demonstrate that the location of HBGAs on bacterial cells is an important factor in determining the genotype-dependent removal efficiency of norovirus particles with the MF membrane. The presence of HBGAs in mixed liquor suspended solids from a membrane bioreactor (MBR) pilot plant was confirmed by immune-transmission electron microscopy, which implies that bacterial HBGAs can contribute to the genotype-dependent removal of human noroviruses with MBR using MF membrane.

Keywords: Extracellular polymeric substance; Histo-blood group antigen; Human norovirus; Lipopolysaccharide; Membrane bioreactor; Microfiltration.

MeSH terms

Blood Group Antigens*
Enterobacter
Escherichia coli
Genotype
Humans
Norovirus / genetics*

Substances

Blood Group Antigens