Pharmaceuticals and biofilms in a fresh-water stream in the south of Sweden

Pharmaceuticals and biofilms in a fresh-water stream in the south of Sweden

Aleksandra Hagberg¹, Shashank Gupta², Olena Rzhepishevska¹, Jerker Fick¹, Mette Burmølle², Madeleine Ramstedt¹

• 1) Department of Chemistry, Umeå Center for Microbial Research, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
• 2) Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Pharmaceuticals have been detected in the aquatic environment all around the globe. The usage of medicine is growing every year, increasing the number of pharmaceutical residues released into the environment. Chronic exposure creates a significant threat to aquatic organisms. For this reason, it is crucial to investigate how pharmaceuticals can affect inhabitants of the aquatic ecosystem. In our study, we aimed to investigate how pharmaceuticals influenced the sessile bacterial species pattern in the Knivsta river in the south of Sweden. By placing the four sampling points before and after contamination (upstream and downstream), we aimed to see differences between locations that were chronically exposed to pharmaceuticals from a local sewage treatment plant and those that remained unexposed. Sampling was made three times in one year. Bacterial populations were analyzed by sequencing 16S RNA. Water chemistry with respect to pharmaceutical content was determined with LC-MS. Bacterial isolates were also collected and showed a range of phenotypes.