The Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus Movement Protein Gene Is a Novel Microbial Source Tracking Marker
Aravind Natarajan, Brayon J. Fremin, Danica T. Schmidtke, Marlene K. Wolfe, Soumaya Zlitni, Katherine E. Graham, Erin F. Brooks, Christopher J. Severyn, Kathleen M. Sakamoto, Norman J. Lacayo, Scott Kuersten, Jeff Koble, Glorianna Caves, Inna Kaplan, Upinder Singh, Prasanna Jagannathan, Andrew R. Rezvani, Ami S. Bhatt, Alexandria B. Boehm
Abstract
Human exposure to fecal contamination in the environment can cause transmission of infectious diseases. Microbial source tracking (MST) can identify sources of fecal contamination so that contamination can be remediated and human exposures can be reduced. MST requires the use of host-associated MST markers. Here, we designed and tested novel MST markers from genomes of tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV). The markers are sensitive and specific to human stool and highly abundant in human stool and wastewater samples.