Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Proteins in Wastewater Samples by Mass Spectrometry.
Linda Ramona Lara-JacoboGolam IslamJean-Paul DesaulniersAndrea E KirkwoodDenina B D SimmonsPublished in: Environmental science & technology (2022)
The recent COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the health system worldwide, and there was a need to track outbreaks and try to use this information as an early warning system. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) enabled detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater treatment plant influents. Until now, the most used technique for this detection has been the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. This study proposes a mass spectrometry (MS)-based method that detected specific SARS-CoV-2 proteins in wastewater, 5 and 6 days ahead of the case data for two municipalities. We identified unique peptides of eight proteins related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 infection. We detected the nonstructural protein (NSP) pp1ab (transcribed after host cell infection) most frequently in all of the samples. As a result, we suspect that in the active cases of COVID-19, the pp1ab protein is present in high abundance in the urine and feces and that this protein could be used as an alternative biomarker. These data were collected before mass vaccination occurred in the population.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- wastewater treatment
- mass spectrometry
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- antibiotic resistance genes
- amino acid
- high resolution
- liquid chromatography
- electronic health record
- loop mediated isothermal amplification
- real time pcr
- protein protein
- label free
- single cell
- big data
- anaerobic digestion
- ms ms
- capillary electrophoresis
- risk factors
- high performance liquid chromatography
- bone marrow
- machine learning
- social media
- stem cells
- artificial intelligence
- tandem mass spectrometry
- mesenchymal stem cells
- nucleic acid