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The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of microbial source tracking (MST) strategies forcharacterizing and determining relatedness among isolates obtained from a drinking watertreatment plant and distribution systems. Approximately eighty bacterial isolates were obtained from three water utilities in NorthAmerica. The three utilities had identified coliforms in their distribution systems andpreliminary analyses by the utilities identified the causes of the occurrences as being eitherthe water treatment plant (or the source), regrowth in the distribution system or invasivedistribution system operations (e.g., main break repair). Isolates from Pinellas County,Florida were sampled from the water treatment facility at different stages of the treatmentprocess, whereas isolates from Laval, Quebec and Lexington, Kentucky were sampled atdifferent points in the distribution system. All bacterial isolates underwent subsequentcharacterization using enzyme-based and molecular methods. Substrate utilization tests (APIand Biolog) were used to determine the identity of the isolates. Both API and Biolog arephenotypic identification systems that utilize a series of colorimetric reactions to generate ametabolic profile for unknown bacterial isolates. Isolates were further characterized byPFGE analysis to determine the degree of genetic variation between isolates. PFGE wasused to separate genomic DNA digested with a rare-cut restriction enzyme (XbaI). Theband pattern obtained from PFGE analysis was used to create a profile for each isolate. Theprofiles of isolates were compared to determine the genetic relatedness between isolates andwhether microbial occurrences at two different sampling points were related. Includes 8 references.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2007 Number of Pages: 5File Size: 1 file , 94 KB