ABSTRACT
Wastewater, which contains everything from pathogens to pollutants, is a geospatially-and temporally-linked microbial fingerprint of a given population. As a result, it can be leveraged for monitoring multiple dimensions of public health across locales and time. Here, we integrate targeted and bulk RNA sequencing (n=1,419 samples) to track the viral, bacterial, and functional content over geospatially distinct areas within Miami Dade County from 2020-2022. First, we used targeted amplicon sequencing (n=966) to track diverse SARS-CoV-2 variants across space and time, and we found a tight correspondence with clinical caseloads from University students (N = 1,503) and Miami-Dade County hospital patients (N = 3,939 patients), as well as an 8-day earlier detection of the Delta variant in wastewater vs. in patients. Additionally, in 453 metatranscriptomic samples, we demonstrate that different wastewater sampling locations have clinically and public-health-relevant microbiota that vary as a function of the size of the human population they represent. Through assembly, alignment-based, and phylogenetic approaches, we also detect multiple clinically important viruses (e.g., norovirus ) and describe geospatial and temporal variation in microbial functional genes that indicate the presence of pollutants. Moreover, we found distinct profiles of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and virulence factors across campus buildings, dorms, and hospitals, with hospital wastewater containing a significant increase in AMR abundance. Overall, this effort lays the groundwork for systematic characterization of wastewater to improve public health decision making and a broad platform to detect emerging pathogens.
ABSTRACT
The enantioselective preparation of a range of perfluoroalkyl-substituted ß-lactones through an isothiourea (HyperBTM) catalysed reaction using symmetric anhydrides as ammonium enolate precursors and perfluoroalkylketones (RF = CF3, C2F5, C4F9) is reported. Following optimisation, high diastereo- and enantioselectivity was observed for ß-lactone formation using C2F5- and C4F9-substituted ketones at room temperature (26 examples, up to >95 : 5 dr and >99 : 1 er), whilst -78 °C was necessary for optimal dr and er with CF3-substituted ketones (11 examples, up to >95 : 5 dr and >99 : 1 er). Derivatisation of the ß-lactones through ring-opening, as well as a two-step conversion to give perfluoroalkyl-substituted oxetanes, is demonstrated without loss of stereochemical integrity. Density functional theory computations, alongside 13C natural abundance KIE studies, have been used to probe the reaction mechanism with a concerted asynchronous [2 + 2]-cycloaddition pathway favoured over a stepwise aldol-lactonisation process.
