Bacterial microbiome of free-living amoebae isolated from wastewater

Since there is very little knowledge about the complete bacterial microbiome of free-living amoebae (FLA), in this work the bacterial microbiome of FLA isolated from wastewater both after secondary and tertiary treatments was studied by 16S rRNA amplicon-based sequencing. Among other bacteria, the bacteria of public health concern Aeromonas, Arcobacter, Campylobacter, Helicobacter, Klebsiella, Legionella, Mycobacterium, Pseudomonas and Salmonella were detected as part of the FLA microbiome. To our knowledge, this is the first work in which the bacterial microbiome of FLA isolated from wastewater is studied. Obtained results indicate that FLA are hosts of potentially pathogenic bacteria, which may pose a public health threat.