Unravelling the importance of the eukaryotic and bacterial communities and their relationship with Legionella spp. ecology in cooling towers: a complex network

Background: Cooling towers are a major source of large community-associated outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease, a severe pneumonia. This disease is contracted when inhaling aerosols that are contaminated with bacteria from the genus Legionella, most importantly Legionella pneumophila. How cooling towers support the growth of this bacterium is still not well understood. As Legionella species are intracellular parasites of protozoa, it is assumed that protozoan community in cooling towers play an important role in Legionella ecology and outbreaks. However, the exact mechanism of how the eukaryotic community contributes to Legionella ecology is still unclear. Therefore, we used 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to characterize the eukaryotic communities of 18 different cooling towers. The data from the eukaryotic community was then analysed with the bacterial community of the same towers in order to understand how each community could affect Legionella spp. ecology in cooling towers. Results: We identified several microbial groups in the cooling tower ecosystem associated with Legionella spp. that suggest the presence of a microbial loop in these systems. Dissolved organic carbon was shown to be a major factor in shaping the eukaryotic community and may be an important factor for Legionella ecology. Network analysis, based on co-occurrence, revealed that Legionella was correlated with a number of different organisms. Out of these, the bacterial genus Brevundimonas and the ciliate class Oligohymenophorea were shown, through in vitro experiments, to stimulate the growth of L. pneumophila through direct and indirect mechanisms. Conclusion: Our results suggest that Legionella ecology depends on the host community, including ciliates and on several groups of organisms that contribute to its survival and growth in the cooling tower ecosystem. These findings further support the idea that some cooling tower microbiomes may promote the survival and growth of Legionella better than others.