351|Int. J. of Multidisciplinary and Current research, March/April 2014 International Journal of Multidisciplinary and Current Research Research Article ISSN: 2321-3124 Available at: http://ijmcr.com Detection of Water-borne Pathogenic Bacteria: Where Molecular Methods Rule Mohit Agarwal 1 , Rajesh Singh Tomar 2 and Anurag Jyoti 3* 123 Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Madhya Pradesh, Maharajpura (Opposite Airport), Gwalior – 474 005 *Corresponding author Accepted 04 April 2014, Available online 15 April 2014, Vol.2 (March/April 2014 issue) Abstract Environmental reservoirs are the potential sources of pathogenic E. coli. These are ideal habitat for survival, growth, and proliferation of E. coli as they are rich in nutrients. A wide range of different animals harbor pathogenic E. coli, which are consistently associated with human and animal diarrheal infection. Infected cattle typically excrete pathogenic E. coli. These discharges are released into the aquatic environment or storm water runoff. The surface water carries a number of pathogenic bacteria when used for the drinking purposes. Apart from these, the water is treated in municipal treatment plants and supplied through pipelines for drinking purposes. The processed clean water sometimes also gets contaminated due to leakage of nearby sewer lines. Highly prevalent diarrheagenic E. coli variants are present in the surface and potable waters in India. The consumption of unsafe water in developing countries causes a number of disease outbreaks. The detection of target pathogens needs improvements to overcome existing drawbacks and should be based on simple, sensitive and specific methodologies. Polymerase Chain Reaction is one of the latest techniques in modern biology which is effective in the detection of these pathogens. Real Time PCR technique has advantages over conventional methods in terms of rapidity, high specificity and sensitivity. The real time PCR uses primer pair and molecular probe (TaqMan, Molecular Beacon, Scorpion etc.) for the sensitive detection of pathogens. Keywords: E. coli, Water, Detection, PCR, Real Time PCR Introduction Water pollution, an inevitable consequence of urbanization and industrialization has major public health and socio-economic impact. Increase in globalization of trade and human movement facilitates urban crowding, favoring host-to-host contact and the dissemination of emerging infectious diseases (Ford 2006; Van et al., 2007). Two third of the total drinking water consumed worldwide is derived from various surface water sources that may easily be contaminated microbiologically by sewage discharges or fecal loading by domestic or wild animals defecation, malfunctioning of septic trenches, storm water drainage, municipal wastes and industrial effluents (Hamner et al., 2006; Orsi et al., 2007). Globally surface, ground and potable water are receiving pollutants from feacal origin (Watkinson et al., 2007, Meusburger et al., 2007). These water harbor pathogen such as STEC, ETEC and Salmonella etc. (Fong et al., 2007, Jyoti et al, 2010). Currently majority of Indian rivers and their tributaries, the major source of potable water supply are polluted due to drainage of sewerage, solid wastes and industrial effluents into the rivers and streams with out any treatment. Each of the 23-macro cities in India generates about 1500-million liters sewage water/day. Only 10% of this is treated while the rest drains into the rivers and other dumping grounds (DAE 2005). Pollution Control Board of India reported that bacterial contamination continued to be critical for water bodies, due to discharge of untreated domestic and industrial wastewater from the urban centers of the country during 1995 to 2006. The receiving water bodies also do not have adequate water for dilution, leading to increase in bacterial pollution load. This is mainly responsible for water borne diseases (CPCB 2005). Millions of people living along the rivers are exposed to microbial contaminants, while taking bath and using polluted water for domestic purposes (Hamner et al., 2007; Servais 2007). In recent years, an increase in incidences of illness attributable to recreational and drinking water exposure has been observed. A safe supply of drinking water depends upon use of either protected water sources, or properly selected and operated series of interventions, use of appropriate treatment technologies capable of detecting and reducing pathogens, and finally prevention of re-contamination in distribution system. Sources of Pathogenic Microorganism and Transmission