Contributing data to the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
Students analyzed environmental DNA (eDNA) samples provided by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts from a wastewater treatment plant serving around a million people, and performed PCR based screens for antibiotic resistance genes followed by DNA sequencing for additional confirmation of results. They found that the eDNA tested positive for ermB, a resistance gene against the macrolide class of antibiotics like erythromycin, in the raw influent samples (untreated wastewater) but not the effluent samples (treated wastewater or reclaimed water). Since wastewater surveillance for antibiotic resistance has been shown to be an indicator of community prevalence of resistance, the above results suggest the presence of ermB in the LA county community consistent with what has been reported in the literature.