174 7 Pollution of Aquatic Systems: Pollution Through Eutrophication, Fecal Materials, and Oil Spills
Table 7.7 Advantages and disadvantages of the various microbial source tracking (MST) methods (From Microbial Source
Tracking Guide Document, Center for Disease Control [CDC]; Anonymous 2005 )
Method Advantages Disadvantages
Antibiotic resistance • Rapid; easy to perform • Require reference library
- Requires cultivation of target organism
- Requires limited training • Libraries geographically specific
- May be useful to differentiate
host source - Libraries temporally specific
- Variations in methods in different studies
Carbon utilization
profiles (CUP) - Rapid; easy to perform • Require reference library
- Requires limited training • Requires cultivation of target organism
- Libraries geographically specific
- Libraries temporally specific
- Variations in methods in different studies
- Results often inconsistent
Repetitive PCR (rep-PCR) • Highly reproducible • Requires reference library - Rapid; easy to perform • Requires cultivation of target organism
- Requires limited training • Libraries may be geographically specific
- May be useful to differentiate host source • Libraries may be temporally specific
Random amplification of
polymorphic DNA (RAPD) - Rapid; easy to perform • Requires reference library
- May be useful to differentiate host source • Requires cultivation of target organism
- Libraries may be geographically specific
- Libraries may be temporally specific
- Has not been used extensively for source
tracking
AFLP • Highly reproducible • Labor-intensive - May be useful to differentiate host source • Requires cultivation of target organism
- Requires reference library
- Requires specialized training of personnel
- Libraries may be geographically specific
- Libraries may be temporally specific
- Variations in methods used in different
studies
PFGE • Highly reproducible • Labor-intensive - May be useful to differentiate host source • Requires cultivation of target organism
- Requires specialized training of personnel
- Requires reference library
- Libraries may be geographically specific
- Libraries may be temporally specific
Ribotyping • Highly reproducible • Labor-intensive (unless automated system - Can be automated used)
- May be useful to differentiate host source • Requires cultivation of target organism
- Requires reference library
- Requires specialized training of personnel
- Libraries may be geographically specific
- Libraries may be temporally specific
F+ RNA coliphage • Distinguishes human from animals • Requires cultivation of coliphages - Subtypes are stable characteristics • Subtypes do not exhibit absolute host specificity
- Easy to perform • Low in numbers in some environments
- Does not require a reference library
(continued)