Environmental adaptive evolution of waterborne viruses under water recycling systems

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H02272
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Civil and environmental engineering
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Omura Tatsuo 東北大学, 未来科学技術共同研究センター, 教授 (30111248)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 李 玉友 東北大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (30201106) ; 佐野 大輔 東北大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (80550368) ; 渡辺 幸三 愛媛大学, 理工学研究科(工学系), 教授 (80634435)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 水系感染症ウイルス / 消毒剤耐性 / ノロウイルス / ロタウイルス / 遊離塩素

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the adaptive evolution of gastroenteritis viruses under the repeated disinfection with free chlorine. Murine norovirus (MNV) and Rhesus rotavirus (RRV) were used as surrogates for human norovirus and rotavirus. As a result, resistant populations of these viruses to free chlorine were successfully acquired by the repeated treatment with free chlorine. The single nucleotide polymorphisms revealed that specific mutations were found in outer capsid proteins of these viruses, which implied that some mutations in structural proteins may contribute to the virion stability and lead to the change in free chlorine susceptibility. Based on these results, it was concluded that the free chlorine disinfection can be regarded as a selection pressure on gastroenteritis viruses.

Free Research Field

環境水質工学