Nuclear Genome Amplification of Antibody VDJ Regions in Wastewater

Researchers successfully amplified and sequenced human antibody genes from wastewater, representing a new approach in wastewater-based epidemiology. They discovered a diverse range of sequence polymorphisms indicating the presence of different antibody sequences from various clonal lineages. The sequences aligned with conserved structural regions and more variable complementarity-determining regions (CDRs). Analysis of wastewater samples revealed conserved CDR1 and CDR2 regions but diverged at CDR3 sites, which determine epitope binding. These findings demonstrate that wastewater analysis can extend beyond pathogen detection to characterize population immunity and human genetics more broadly.