Hot water plumbing microbiome

Heat shock is a potential control strategy for Legionella pneumophila in hot water plumbing systems. However, its effectiveness, especially its influence on the broader plumbing microbiome remains largely unknown. This study compares the pre- and post- heat shock microbiota via the application of a lab-scale recirculating hot water plumbing rig. A second parallel rig was employed to simulate a thermal disruption scenario. To probe the microbial composition, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was applied on Illumina MiSeq platform (2 * 300 cycles), targeting V4 region (barcoded 515F/ 926R).