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Published on: December 3, 2011
The quantification of JC polyomavirus in wastewater samples in Ahvaz, Iran
Parvaneh Bahrami1, Afshin Takdastan2, Manoochehr Makvandi3
1Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
Abstract:
The presence of human JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) in wastewater serves as a notable marker of human fecal and urine of infected individuals. Therefore, this study investigated the occurrence of JCPyV in wastewater samples from diverse sites across Ahvaz city. To this aim, 60 wastewater samples were collected from different areas. The samples were concentrated using polyethylene glycol 6000 prior to isolating the viral nucleic acids. Circulating JCPyV genotypes in the wastewater samples were determined. Furthermore, nested PCR was performed to amplify the non-coding control region (NCCR) of the JCPyV genome to assess for the presence of nucleotide mutations within this region. JCPyV DNA in wastewater samples was quantified using SYBR Green real-time PCR (qPCR). The analysis showed 16/60 (26.6%) samples tested positive for both JCPyV VP1 and NCCR genomic regions. The analysis of phylogenetic tree revealed that JCPyV genotype 3 is circulating in this region. The outcomes of sequencing NCCR-JCPyV blocks isolates were found to be archetype. However, the occurrence of nucleotide mutations was observed in NCCR sections "c", "d", and "f" blocks. The concentration of JCPyV DNA in 16/60 (26.6%) positive wastewater samples ranged from 3.71 × 103 to 1.31 × 105 genomic copies per liter.
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