Molecular monitoring of inactivation efficiencies of bacteria during pulsed electric field treatment of clinical wastewater

Aims:  The applicability of an alternative wastewater disinfection concept based on the pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is tested with molecular biology techniques using clinical wastewaters. Methods and Results:  Hospital wastewater was treated with the PEF technology. The inactivation efficiencies of bacteria were successfully monitored with real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). As the differentiation between living and dead bacterial cells is important for the determination of the disinfection efficiency, propidium monoazide (PMA) was applied. PMA selectively penetrates cells with compromised membranes and intercalates into the DNA inhibiting a subsequent PCR amplification. Th…