Sewage Protein Information Mining: Discovery of Large Biomolecules as Biomarkers of Population and Industrial Activities

The information carried by proteins inwastewater is stillto be uncovered. A large-scale proteomics approach reveals the potentialof these biomarkers for developing public health monitoring systems. Wastewater-based epidemiology has been revealed as apowerful approachfor surveying the health and lifestyle of a population. In this context,proteins have been proposed as potential biomarkers that complementthe information provided by currently available methods. However,little is known about the range of molecular species and dynamicsof proteins in wastewater and the information hidden in these proteinprofiles is still to be uncovered. In this study, we investigatedthe protein composition of wastewater from 10 municipalities in Cataloniawith diverse populations and industrial activities at three differenttimes of the year. The soluble fraction of this material was analyzedusing liquid chromatography high-resolution tandem mass spectrometryusing a shotgun proteomics approach. The complete proteomic profile,distribution among different organisms, and semiquantitative analysisof the main constituents are described. Excreta (urine and feces)from humans, and blood and other residues from livestock were identifiedas the two main protein sources. Our findings provide new insightsinto the characterization of wastewater proteomics that allow forthe proposal of specific bioindicators for wastewater-based environmentalmonitoring. This includes human and animal population monitoring,most notably for rodent pest control (immunoglobulins (Igs) and amylases)and livestock processing industry monitoring (albumins).