Metagenomic analysis of bacterial community composition and antibiotic resistance genes in a wastewater treatment plant and its receiving surface water. - Related Documents




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732801.0000Metagenomic analysis of bacterial community composition and antibiotic resistance genes in a wastewater treatment plant and its receiving surface water. The presence of pathogenic bacteria and the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) may pose big risks to the rivers that receive the effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, we investigated the changes of bacterial community and ARGs along treatment processes of one WWTP, and examined the effects of the effluent discharge on the bacterial community and ARGs in the receiving river. Pyrosequencing was applied to reveal bacterial community composition including potential bacterial pathogen, and Illumina high-throughput sequencing was used for profiling ARGs. The results showed that the WWTP had good removal efficiency on potential pathogenic bacteria (especially Arcobacter butzleri) and ARGs. Moreover, the bacterial communities of downstream and upstream of the river showed no significant difference. However, the increase in the abundance of potential pathogens and ARGs at effluent outfall was observed, indicating that WWTP effluent might contribute to the dissemination of potential pathogenic bacteria and ARGs in the receiving river.201627340885
732910.9999Metagenomic analysis reveals the abundance changes of bacterial communities and antibiotic resistance genes in the influent and effluent of hospital wastewater. The presence of substantial quantities of antibiotics and their metabolites in hospital wastewater can lead to the accumulation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Research on the influent and effluent sewage of hospitals is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of wastewater treatment systems in inactivating ARB and ARGs. Key features of microbial communities and ARGs in influent and effluent wastewater - including taxonomic diversity and relative abundance - were assessed via metagenomic sequencing. The treatment process resulted in a reduction of the overall bacterial count in hospital wastewater. However, a notable increase in relative abundance was observed for three phyla, 16 genera, and 21 species post-treatment. Bacteria harboring ARGs were predominantly identified as belonging to Pseudomonadota and Bacillota. A total of 354 ARGs were detected in the influent, while 331 were identified in the effluent samples, with a general decrease in absolute abundance. Nevertheless, the relative abundance of certain ARGs, such as mphG, fosA8, and soxR, was found to increase in the effluent across all samples. Seasonal fluctuations also played a role in the distribution of microbial communities and ARGs. These findings underscore the role of hospital wastewater treatment systems in reducing the discharge of ARB and ARGs into the environment, while also revealing potential shortcomings in the wastewater treatment process that necessitate further improvement for more effective removal of these ARGs.202541171744
732720.9999Exploring the microbiome, antibiotic resistance genes, mobile genetic element, and potential resistant pathogens in municipal wastewater treatment plants in Brazil. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been widely investigated in Europe, Asia and North America regarding the occurrence and fate of antibiotic resistance (AR) elements, such as antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and antibiotic resistant bacteria and pathogens. However, monitoring data about AR elements in municipal WWTPs in Brazil are scarce. This study investigated the abundance of intI1, five ARGs (sul1, tetA, blaTEM, ermB and qnrB) and 16S rRNA in raw and treated wastewater of three WWTPs, using different sewage treatments named CAS (Conventional activated sludge), UASB/BTF (UASB followed by biological trickling filter) and MAS/UV (modified activated sludge with UV disinfection stage). Bacterial diversity and the presence of potentially pathogenic groups were also evaluated, and associations between genetic markers and the bacterial populations were presented. All WWTPs decreased the loads of genetic markers finally discharged to receiving water bodies and showed no evidence of being hotspots for antimicrobial resistance amplification in wastewater, since the abundances of intI1 and ARGs within the bacterial population were not increased in the treated effluents. UASB/BTF showed a similar performance to that of the CAS and MAS/UV, reinforcing the sanitary and environmental advantages of this biological treatment, widely applied for wastewater treatment in warm climate regions. Bacterial diversity and richness increased after treatments, and bacterial communities in wastewater samples differed due to catchment areas and treatment typologies. Potential pathogenic population underwent considerable decrease after the treatments; however, strong significant correlations with intI1 and ARGs revealed potential multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria (Aeromonas, Arcobacter, Enterobacter, Escherichia-Shigella, Stenotrophomonas and Streptococcus) in the treated effluents, although in reduced relative abundances. These are contributive results for understanding the fate of ARGs, MGEs and potential pathogenic bacteria after wastewater treatments, which might support actions to mitigate their release into Brazilian aquatic environments in the near future.202235724791
684630.9999Antibiotic resistance genes in an urban river as impacted by bacterial community and physicochemical parameters. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in urban rivers are a serious public health concern in regions with poorly planned, rapid development. To gain insights into the predominant factors affecting the fate of ARGs in a highly polluted urban river in eastern China, a total of 285 ARGs, microbial communities, and 20 physicochemical parameters were analyzed for 17 sites. A total of 258 unique ARGs were detected using high-throughput qPCR, and the absolute abundance of total ARGs was positively correlated with total organic carbon and total dissolved nitrogen concentrations (P < 0.01). ARG abundance and diversity were greatly altered by microbial community structure. Variation partitioning analysis showed that the combined effects of multiple factors contributed to the profile and dissemination of ARGs, and variation of microbial communities was the major factor affecting the distribution of ARGs. The disparate distribution of some bacteria, including Bacteroides from mammalian gastrointestinal flora, Burkholderia from zoonotic infectious diseases, and Zoogloea from wastewater treatment, indicates that the urban river was strongly influenced by point-source pollution. Results imply that microbial community shifts caused by changes in water quality may lead to the spread of ARGs, and point-source pollution in urban rivers requires greater attention to control the transfer of ARGs between environmental bacteria and pathogens.201728864929
723040.9999Persistence of antibiotic resistance genes and bacterial community changes in drinking water treatment system: From drinking water source to tap water. As emerging contaminants, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have become a public concern. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and diversity of ARGs, and variation in the composition of bacterial communities in source water, drinking water treatment plants, and tap water in the Pearl River Delta region, South China. Various ARGs were present in the different types of water. Among the 27 target ARGs, floR and sul1 dominated in source water from three large rivers in the region. Pearson correlation analysis suggested that sul1, sul2, floR, and cmlA could be potential indicators for ARGs in water samples. The total abundance of the detected ARGs in tap water was much lower than that in source water. Sand filtration and sedimentation in drinking water treatment plants could effectively remove ARGs; in contrast, granular activated carbon filtration increased the abundance of ARGs. It was found that Pseudomonas may be involved in the proliferation and dissemination of ARGs in the studied drinking water treatment system. Bacteria and ARGs were still present in tap water after treatment, though they were significantly reduced. More research is needed to optimize the water treatment process for ARG removal.201829127799
702150.9999Metagenomic insights into dissemination of antibiotic resistance across bacterial genera in wastewater treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of conventional wastewater treatment processes including secondary treatment and chlorination on the removal of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB), and to assess the association of ARGs with their potential hosts in each treatment process. The results showed chlorination with subinhibitory concentration (<8 mg/L) resulted in an increased ARB number in the disinfection effluent. qPCR analysis indicated secondary treatment increased relative abundance of ARGs in remaining bacteria whereas disinfection reduced the relative abundance of those genes effectively. Metagenomic analysis revealed a significant shift of dominating bacterial genera harboring ARGs. Along the treatment train, 48, 95 and 80 genera were identified to be the ARG carriers in primary effluent, secondary effluent, and disinfection effluent, respectively. It was also found that secondary treatment increased the diversity of potential ARG hosts while both secondary treatment and chlorination broadened the host range of some ARGs at the genus level, which may be attributed to the spread of antibiotic resistance across bacterial genera through horizontal transfer. This study highlights the growing concerns that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) may disseminate ARGs by associating this effect to specific treatment stages and by correlating ARGs with their bacterial hosts.202133453487
734260.9999Metagenomic analysis reveals the prevalence and persistence of antibiotic- and heavy metal-resistance genes in wastewater treatment plant. The increased antibiotic resistance among microorganisms has resulted into growing interest for investigating the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as they are reported to be the major source in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs) in the environment. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and persistence of ARGs and HMRGs as well as bacterial diversity and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in influent and effluent at the WWTP in Gwangju, South Korea, using high-throughput sequencing based metagenomic approach. A good number of broad-spectrum of resistance genes (both ARG and HMRG) were prevalent and likely persistent, although large portion of them were successfully removed at the wastewater treatment process. The relative abundance of ARGs and MGEs was higher in effluent as compared to that of influent. Our results suggest that the resistance genes with high abundance and bacteria harbouring ARGs and MGEs are likely to persist more through the treatment process. On analyzing the microbial community, the phylum Proteobacteria, especially potentially pathogenic species belonging to the genus Acinetobacter, dominated in WWTP. Overall, our study demonstrates that many ARGs and HMRGs may persist the treatment processes in WWTPs and their association to MGEs may contribute to the dissemination of resistance genes among microorganisms in the environment.201829858829
731570.9999Seasonal variability of the correlation network of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance determinants, and bacteria in a wastewater treatment plant and receiving water. Sewage treatment plants are an essential source of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance determinants, and bacteria in environmental waters. However, it is still unclear whether they can maintain a relatively stable relationship in wastewater and environmental waters. This study analyzed the removal capacity of the above three pollutants in the sewage treatment plant in summer and their impact on environmental waters, and then examines the relationship between the three contaminants in the wastewater and environmental waters in summer and winter based on our previous study. The results found that the removal capacity of bacteria in summer was poor, the concentration of fluoroquinolone in the effluent was higher than that in influent, and the abundance of intI1, tetW, qnrB, and ermB increased after wastewater treatment. Proteobacteria and Bacteroides were the main bacteria that constitute the correlation network between bacteria, and they existed stably in summer and winter. However, fluoroquinolones occupied a significant position in the determinant network of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in summer and winter. There are fewer correlation between antibiotics and antibiotics resistance determinants in winter. Interestingly, the relationship between bacteria, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance determinants was a mainly positive correlation in summer and negative correlation in winter. This study analyzed the relationship between bacteria, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance determinants that were stable in the wastewater and environmental waters and pointed out the direction for subsequent targeted seasonal control of novel pollutants in wastewater and environmental waters.202235642820
706680.9999Seasonality of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients and resistance genes in sewers and wastewater treatment plant outflow. To test the hypothesis of a seasonal relationship of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients and the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the wastewater, we investigated the distribution of prescriptions and different ARGs in the Dresden sewer system and wastewater treatment plant during a two-year sampling campaign. Based on quantitative PCR (qPCR), our results show a clear seasonal pattern for relative ARGs abundances. The higher ARGs levels in autumn and winter coincide with the higher rates of overall antibiotic prescriptions. While no significant differences of relative abundances were observed before and after the wastewater treatment for most of the relative ARGs, the treatment clearly influenced the microbial community composition and abundance. This indicates that the ARGs are probably not part of the dominant bacterial taxa, which are mainly influenced by the wastewater treatment processes, or that plasmid carrying bacteria remain constant, while plasmid free bacteria decrease. An exception was vancomycin (vanA), showing higher relative abundance in treated wastewater. It is likely that a positive selection or community changes during wastewater treatment lead to an enrichment of vanA. Our results demonstrate that in a medium-term study the combination of qPCR and next generation sequencing corroborated by drug-related health data is a suitable approach to characterize seasonal changes of ARGs in wastewater and treated wastewater.201627073234
731490.9999Microbial diversity and antibiotic resistance in a final effluent-receiving lake. Wastewater treatment plants have been recognised as hotspots for antibiotic resistance genes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria which enter the environment. However, the persistence of these genes and bacteria in receiving ecosystems remains poorly understood. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of final effluent release on microbial diversity and the antibiotic resistance gene pool in a final effluent-receiving lake. The numbers of total culturable heterotrophs and unculturable bacteria (represented as the 16S rRNA gene copy number) were significantly reduced during the treatment process. The number of ampicillin-resistant bacteria was higher in the sediment than in water samples, suggesting accumulation of ampicillin-resistant bacteria in freshwater sediments. Using an exogenous method, we captured 56 resistance plasmids which were further characterised. Next-generation sequencing revealed that the microbial phyla represented in the studied metagenomes were typical of corresponding environments. The highest relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes was observed in the final effluent, suggesting that a considerable number of genes were released from the wastewater treatment plant. However, the lowest relative abundance and lowest diversity of the genes in the lake water, compared to the other studied metagenomes, suggest a negligible effect of treated sewage release on antibiotic resistance within water microbial communities of the lake. Furthermore, uncontrolled sewage dumping into this reservoir in the past as well as lower quality of the water upstream of the lake indicated that the wastewater treatment plant protected the studied ecosystem.201930373071
7330100.9999Deterministic assembly process dominates bacterial antibiotic resistome in wastewater effluents receiving river. Antibiotic resistance has become a concerning global health challenge, such as the dissemination of bacteria and genes between humans and the environments. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) effluents, as significant reservoirs for antimicrobial resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), pose critical risks to public health. However, whether wastewater effluent prominently contributes to the abundance of ARGs and their community assembly processes in receiving river has yet been unclear. Here we investigated the effects of the effluent discharge on the ARGs and their associate microbial community in the receiving river (Qinhuai River, Nanjing) of upstream and 2000 m downstream of one WWTPs discharge point. Results revealed that the total antibiotic concentrations of all sediment samples ranged from 37.86 to 76.11 µg/kg dw, while antibiotic concentrations and ARG abundances in the river near the wastewater discharge site were significantly higher than that of the downstream receiving river. The metagenomic assembly obtained 245 ARGs associated with 19 antibiotic types in the receiving river. Network analyses confirmed that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroides were the key phylum and positively correlated with the antibiotic resistome. Additionally, the bacterial pathogens of the receiving river were identified as the most frequent strains of clinically relevant antibacterial resistance, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Using null modeling analysis to determine the quantification of ecological processes, the results showed that heterogeneous environmental selection (81.81%) was a dominate role of the ecological mechanisms determining the ARG community reconstruction in the receiving river. Our results may contribute to control the environmental dissemination of antimicrobial resistance risks in aquatic environments.202235864403
7218110.9999Mass-immigration shapes the antibiotic resistome of wastewater treatment plants. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the hotspots for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into the environment. Nevertheless, a comprehensive assessment of the city-level and short-term daily (inter-day) variations of ARG profiles in the whole process (influent-INF, activated sludge-AS and effluent-EF) of WWTPs is still lacking. Here, 285 ARGs and ten mobile gene elements were monitored in seven WWTPs in Xiamen for seven days via high-throughput qPCR. The average daily load of ARGs to WWTPs was about 1.32 × 10(20) copies/d, and a total of 1.56 × 10(18) copies/d was discharged to the environment across the entire city. Stochastic processes were the main force determining the assembly of ARG communities during sampling campaign, with their relative importance ranked in the order of INF > EFF > AS. There're little daily variations in ARG richness, abundance, β-diversity composition as well as assembly mechanisms. The results of SourceTracker, variation partitioning analysis, and hierarchical partitioning analysis indicated that bacteria and ARGs from upstream treatment processes played an increasingly dominant role in shaping ARG communities in AS and EFF, respectively, suggesting the importance of mass-immigration of bacteria and ARGs from the source on ARG transport in wastewater treatment processes. This emphasizes the need to revise the way we mitigate ARG contamination but focus on the source of ARGs in urban wastewater.202437914134
6897120.9999Occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in an oilfield's water re-injection systems. The recent widespread increase in antibiotic resistance has become a real threat to both human and environmental ecosystem health. In oil reservoirs, an extreme environment potentially influenced by human activity such as water flooding, the distribution and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) remains poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the distribution of ARGs at different positions in a water-flooding oilfield in China, and found that ARGs were observed in all parts of the investigated system. The surface regions of the water re-injection system were more vulnerable to ARG pollution, and the final ARG concentration was up to 2.2 × 10(8) gene copies/L, and sulfonamide were the most abundant. However, ARG concentration decreased sharply in the samples from underground part of the re-injection system. The bacterial community composition was also varied with sampling position. The sample from production well, which was enriched in crude oil, contained more bacteria but the community richness was simpler. This study also indicated the wastewater-recycling process above ground, which proposed to reduce the discharge into environment directly, may pose a risk for ARGs spread.202031869712
6877130.9999Exploring urban coastal areas: Investigating the urban coastal areas as a reservoirs of antibiotic resistance Genes★. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have long served as adaptive defensive mechanisms among bacteria, enabling their survival and propagation in challenging environments. The consequences of inefficient wastewater treatment have culminated the emergence of untreatable and lethal extensively drug-resistant. To understand the relationship between wastewater effluent and marine ecosystems, we conducted a study to monitor the diversity and prevalence of common ARGs in Hong Kong's urban coastal areas at different seasons. Our findings revealed that sul 1 was the most abundant resistance gene, with an average relative abundance of 4.45 × 10(-2) per 16s rRNA gene copy. Moreover, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and salinity were key factors influencing seasonal variations in total ARGs abundance. The influence of environmental factors varied based on ARGs' association with Intl1, with Intl1-associated ARGs strongly correlating with temperature and dissolved oxygen. Notably, despite their abundance, sul1 and mphA exhibited similar correlations with both Intl1 and key environmental factors, suggesting these ARGs share a common dissemination mechanism. Moreover, the robust association between resistance genes and mobile genetic elements (MGE) could potentially act as a valuable indicator for assessing the efficacy of removing ARGs in wastewater treatment methods when operating under carefully optimized environmental parameters.202539642594
7140140.9999Metagenomic insight into the prevalence and driving forces of antibiotic resistance genes in the whole process of three full-scale wastewater treatment plants. The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is an emerging global health concern, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as an essential carrier for the occurrence and transmission of ARGs, deserves more attention. Based on the Illumina NovaSeq high-throughput sequencing platform, this study conducted a metagenomic analysis of 18 samples from three full-scale WWTPs to explore the fate of ARGs in the whole process (influent, biochemical treatment, advanced treatment, and effluent) of wastewater treatment. Total 70 ARG subtypes were detected, among which multidrug, aminoglycoside, tetracycline, and macrolide ARGs were most abundant. The different treatment processes used for three WWTPs were capable of reducing ARG diversity, but did not significantly reduce ARG abundance. Compared to that by denitrification filters, the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process was advantageous in controlling the prevalence of multidrug ARGs in WWTPs. Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) suggested g_Nitrospira, g_Curvibacter, and g_Mycobacterium as the key bacteria responsible for differential ARG prevalence among different WWTPs. Meanwhile, adeF, sul1, and mtrA were the persistent antibiotic resistance genes (PARGs) and played dominant roles in the prevalence of ARGs. Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the host bacteria of majority ARGs in WWTPs, while Pseudomonas and Nitrospira were the most crucial host bacteria influencing the dissemination of critical ARGs (e.g., adeF). In addition, microbial richness was determined to be the decisive factor affecting the diversity and abundance of ARGs in wastewater treatment processes. Overall, regulating the abundance of microorganisms and key host bacteria by selecting processes with microbial interception, such as MBR process, may be beneficial to control the prevalence of ARGs in WWTPs.202337356328
7513150.9999Contribution of microplastic particles to the spread of resistances and pathogenic bacteria in treated wastewaters. Microplastic Particles (MPs) are ubiquitous pollutants widely found in aquatic ecosystems. Although MPs are mostly retained in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), a high number of MPs reaches the open waters potentially contributing to the spread of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. Nowadays, a limited number of studies have focused on the role of MPs as carriers of potentially pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacteria in WWTPs. Thus, an investigation on the community composition (by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing) and the abundance of antibiotic and metal resistance genes (by qPCR) of the biofilm on MPs (the plastisphere) and of planktonic bacteria in treated (pre- and post-disinfection) wastewaters was performed. MPs resulted to be very similar in terms of type, color, size, and chemical composition, before and after the disinfection. The bacterial community on MPs differed from the planktonic community in terms of richness, composition, and structure of the community network. Potentially pathogenic bacteria generally showed higher abundances in treated wastewater than in the biofilm on MPs. Furthermore, among the tested resistance genes, only sul2 (a common resistance gene against sulfonamides) resulted to be more abundant in the plastisphere than in the planktonic bacterial community. Our results suggest that the wastewater plastisphere could promote the spread of pathogenic bacteria and resistance genes in aquatic environment although with a relatively lower contribution than the wastewater planktonic bacterial community.202134186288
7310160.9998Metagenomic Analysis Reveals Changes in Bacterial Communities and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in an Eye Specialty Hospital and a General Hospital Before and After Wastewater Treatment. The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in hospital wastewater poses a great threat to public health, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play an important role in reducing the levels of ARB and ARGs. In this study, high-throughput metagenomic sequencing was used to analyze the bacterial community composition and ARGs in two hospitals exposed to different antibiotic use conditions (an eye specialty hospital and a general hospital) before and after wastewater treatment. The results showed that there were various potential pathogenic bacteria in the hospital wastewater, and the abundance and diversity of the influent ARGs in the general hospital were higher than those in the eye hospital. The influent of the eye hospital was mainly composed of Thauera and Pseudomonas, and sul1 (sulfonamide) was the most abundant ARG. The influent of the general hospital contained mainly Aeromonas and Acinetobacter, and tet39 (tetracycline) was the most abundant ARG. Furthermore, co-occurrence network analysis showed that the main bacteria carrying ARGs in hospital wastewater varied with hospital type; the same bacteria in wastewater from different hospitals could carry different ARGs, and the same ARG could also be carried by different bacteria. The changes in the bacterial community and ARG abundance in the effluent from the two hospitals showed that the activated sludge treatment and the direct chlorination disinfection can effectively remove some bacteria and ARGs in wastewater but have limitations. The species diversity increased significantly after the activated sludge treatment, while the direct chlorination disinfection did not increase the diversity. The activated sludge treatment has a better effect on the elimination of ARGs than the direct chlorination disinfection. In summary, we investigated the differences in bacterial communities and ARGs in wastewater from two hospitals exposed to different antibiotic usage conditions, evaluated the effects of different wastewater treatment methods on the bacterial communities and ARGs in hospital wastewater, and recommended appropriate methods for certain clinical environments.202235663906
7217170.9998Emission and dispersal of antibiotic resistance genes through bioaerosols generated during the treatment of municipal sewage. Wastewater treatment plants act as socio-ecological couplers through the concentration, treatment, and subsequent environmental release of sewage collected from surrounding communities and are often considered hotspots for antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). While studies have identified the release of ARB/ARGs in treated liquid sewage, little is known about potential dispersal through wastewater bioaerosol emissions. The aim of this study was to better define the contribution of WWTP bioaerosols to potential environmental distribution of ARB/ARGs. Bioaerosols were collected immediately upwind and downwind from the aeration tanks of a municipal wastewater treatment plant and liquid sludge samples were obtained from the aeration tanks. From the bioaerosol and liquid samples, qPCR assays identified 44 ARGs that confer resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. Comparison of the ARG profiles across samples showed that the downwind bioaerosol profile was 68% similar to the profile found in liquid sludge samples. Community 16S rRNA gene sequencing also showed that downwind bioaerosols had similar taxonomic profiles as those generated from liquid sludge while the upwind profiles showed a distinct difference. Preliminary ARG dispersion modeling estimated an ARG emission rate of ~10,620 genes per hour from the liquid sludge and indicated that the bioaerosols have the potential to be carried kilometers away from the WWTP source based on wind speed. The overall results from this study suggest that bioaerosols generated during WWTP processes can aid in the emission and dispersal of bacteria and ARGs, resulting in a possible route of human exposure and deposition into surrounding environments.201931181526
6810180.9998Heavy metals and microbiome are negligible drivers than mobile genetic elements in determining particle-attached and free-living resistomes in the Yellow River. Suspended particles in water can shelter both microorganisms and contaminants. However, the emerging pollutants antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in free-living (FL) or particle-attached (PA) bacteria in aquatic environments are less explored. In this study, we compared the free-living and particle-attached ARGs during four seasons in the Yellow River using high-throughput quantitative PCR techniques and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Our results demonstrated that both the free-living water and particles were dominated by tetracycline and beta-lactamase resistance genes. The PA-ARGs had a higher absolute abundance than FL-ARGs in the Yellow River, regardless of the season. Both PA-ARGs and FL-ARGs had the highest absolute abundance and diversity during winter. Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were the dominant driver for both size-fractionated ARGs. However, the microbiome had less influence on PA-ARG profiles than the FL-ARG profiles, while the effects of the heavy metals on ARGs were negligible. The community assembly of both FL-ARG and PA-ARG can be explained by neutral processes. Several opportunistic pathogens (e.g., Escherichia coli) associated with human health exhibited a higher relative abundance in the particles than during a free-living lifestyle. Parts of these pathogens were potential ARG hosts. As such, it is important to monitor the ARGs and opportunistic pathogens from size-fractionated bacteria and develop targeted strategies to manage ARG dissemination and opportunistic pathogens to ensure public health.202234736202
6883190.9998Metagenomic insights into the profile of antibiotic resistomes in sediments of aquaculture wastewater treatment system. To meet the rapidly growing global demand for aquaculture products, large amounts of antibiotics were used in aquaculture, which might accelerate the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and the propagation of antibiotic genes (ARGs). In our research, we revealed the ARGs profiles, their co-occurrence with mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and potential hosts in sediments of a crab pond wastewater purification system based on metagenomic analysis. The residual antibiotic seems to increase the propagation of ARGs in the crab pond, but there was no clear relationship between a given antibiotic type and the corresponding resistance genes. The effect of aquaculture on sediment was not as profound as that of other anthropogentic activities, but increased the relative abundance of sulfonamide resistance gene. A higher abundance of MGEs, especially plasmid, increased the potential ARGs dissemination risk in crab and purification ponds. Multidrug and sulfonamide resistance genes had greater potential to transfer because they were more frequently carried by MGEs. The horizontal gene transfer was likely to occur among a variety of microorganisms, and various ARGs hosts including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Escherichia, and Klebsiella were identified. Bacterial community influenced the composition of ARG hosts, and Proteobacteria was the predominant hosts. Overall, our study provides novel insights into the environmental risk of ARGs in sediments of aquaculture wastewater treatment system.202234963542