Aira Manuel, Gómez-Roel Ana, Domínguez Jorge
Grupo de Ecoloxía Animal (GEA), Universidade de Vigo, E-36310 Vigo, Spain.
Pathogens. 2025 Apr 24;14(5):409. doi: 10.3390/pathogens14050409.
Management of sewage sludge is of ongoing concern because this waste product is generated continuously and contains high levels of harmful constituents. Among these constituents, fungal pathogens are of increasing concern. Vermicomposting can reduce the amounts of bacterial pathogens in sewage sludge; however, information about the effects of earthworms on fungal pathogens is limited or non-existent. We therefore aimed to determine whether vermicomposting can control fungal pathogens present in sewage sludge. Using next-generation sequencing techniques, we characterized fungal communities in sewage sludge from eight wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and in casts (feces) of earthworms feeding on sewage sludge. Fungal communities in earthworm casts primarily included taxa that were absent from sewage sludges, indicating a significant change in fungal composition. Changes in fungal diversity depended on the source of sewage sludge (WWTP). All of the sewage sludges contained low levels of fungal pathogens, most of which were significantly reduced or eliminated by earthworms, such as , , and . Moreover, earthworm gut transit enhanced beneficial (saprotrophic) fungi like , , and . Overall, digestion of sewage sludge by earthworms alone generated a mainly pathogen-free fungal community with a high proportion of saprotrophic taxa, which would enhance nutrient cycling rates.
污水污泥的管理一直备受关注，因为这种废弃物持续产生且含有高浓度的有害成分。在这些成分中，真菌病原体日益受到关注。蚯蚓堆肥可以减少污水污泥中细菌病原体的数量；然而，关于蚯蚓对真菌病原体影响的信息有限或不存在。因此，我们旨在确定蚯蚓堆肥是否能够控制污水污泥中存在的真菌病原体。我们使用下一代测序技术，对来自八个污水处理厂（WWTPs）的污水污泥以及以污水污泥为食的蚯蚓粪便中的真菌群落进行了表征。蚯蚓粪便中的真菌群落主要包括污水污泥中不存在的分类群，这表明真菌组成发生了显著变化。真菌多样性的变化取决于污水污泥的来源（污水处理厂）。所有污水污泥中真菌病原体含量较低，其中大多数被蚯蚓显著减少或消除，如 、 、 和 。此外，蚯蚓肠道转运增强了有益（腐生）真菌，如 、 、 和 。总体而言，仅通过蚯蚓对污水污泥的消化就产生了一个主要无病原体的真菌群落，其中腐生分类群比例很高，这将提高养分循环速率。
