Molecular Parasites Shape Bacterial Communities at the Heart of Wastewater Treatment Plants Over Time

n December 2020, Cindy Liu and Lance Price co-authored a paper in Nature Microbiology along with colleagues from the University of Luxembourg showing how molecular parasites – including bacterial viruses and plasmids – shape bacterial populations in wastewater treatment plants over time. You may be asking: Why would public health researchers care about bacteria in wastewater treatment plants? It turns out that bacteria are the biochemical engines of these essential sanitation systems. Bacterial populations and communities can evolve over time effecting the performance of the system.