# | Rank | Similarity | Title + Abs. | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 7926 | 0 | 0.9971 | Microplastics Exacerbated Conjugative Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes during Ultraviolet Disinfection: Highlighting Difference between Conventional and Biodegradable Ones. Microplastics (MPs) have been confirmed as a hotspot for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in wastewater. However, the impact of MPs on the transfer of ARGs in wastewater treatment remains unclear. This study investigated the roles and mechanisms of conventional (polystyrene, PS) and biodegradable (polylactic acid, PLA) MPs in the conjugative transfer of ARGs during ultraviolet disinfection. The results showed that MPs significantly facilitated the conjugative transfer of ARGs compared with individual ultraviolet disinfection, and PSMPs exhibited higher facilitation than PLAMPs. The facilitation effects were attributed to light shielding and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nanoplastics from ultraviolet irradiation of MPs. The light shielding of MPs protected the bacteria and ARGs from ultraviolet inactivation. More importantly, ROS and nanoplastics generated from irradiated MPs induced intracellular oxidative stress on bacteria and further increased the cell membrane permeability and intercellular contact, ultimately enhancing the ARG exchange. The greater fragmentation of PSMPs than PLAMPs resulted in a higher intracellular oxidative stress and a stronger enhancement. This study highlights the concerns of conventional and biodegradable MPs associated with the transfer of ARGs during wastewater treatment, which provides new insights into the combined risks of MPs and ARGs in the environment. | 2025 | 39723446 |
| 6938 | 1 | 0.9971 | Assessment of the Effects of Biodegradable and Nonbiodegradable Microplastics Combined with Pesticides on the Soil Microbiota. Microplastics (MPs) and pesticides pose significant threats to the health of soil ecosystems. This study investigated the individual and combined effects of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) and nonbiodegradable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics alongside glyphosate and imidacloprid pesticides on soil microbial communities and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) via microcosm experiments. Compared with the control, PLA significantly increased microbial alpha diversity and enhanced microbial functions related to environmental information processing and metabolism. However, PLA also selectively enriched populations of beneficial and potentially pathogenic bacteria, whereas PET had comparatively weaker effects. Crucially, PLA exposure resulted in substantially higher total abundance and ecological risk levels of soil ARGs than did PET. Coexposure with pesticides further amplified these effects, with PLA demonstrating notable synergistic interactions with both glyphosate and imidacloprid. These findings challenge the conventional assumption that biodegradable MPs such as PLA are environmentally safer than nonbiodegradable MPs, thus highlighting their potential to induce more complex and potentially severe ecological risks under co-contamination scenarios with pesticides. | 2025 | 41175058 |
| 7927 | 2 | 0.9970 | Different microplastics distinctively enriched the antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic sludge digestion through shifting specific hosts and promoting horizontal gene flow. Both microplastics (MPs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are intensively detected in waste activated sludge (WAS). However, the distinctive impacts of different MPs on ARGs emergence, dissemination, and its potential mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, long-term semi-continuous digesters were performed to examine the profiles of ARGs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in response to two different typical MPs (polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)) in anaerobic sludge digestion. Metagenomic results show that PE- and PVC-MPs increase ARGs abundance by 14.8% and 23.6% in digester, respectively. ARB are also enriched by PE- and PVC-MPs, Acinetobacter sp. and Salmonella sp. are the dominant ARB. Further exploration reveals that PVC-MPs stimulates the acquisition of ARGs by human pathogen bacteria (HPB) and functional microorganisms (FMs), but PE-MPs doesn't. Network analysis shows that more ARGs tend to co-occur with HBP and FMs after MPs exposure, and more importantly, new bacteria are observed to acquire ARGs possibly via horizontal gene flow (HGF) in MPs-stressed digester. The genes involved in the HGF process, including reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, cell membrane permeability, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secretion, and ATP synthesis, are also enhanced by MPs, thereby attributing to the promoted ARGs dissemination. These findings offer advanced insights into the distinctive contribution of MPs to fate, host, dissemination of ARGs in anaerobic sludge digestion. | 2023 | 36423550 |
| 7940 | 3 | 0.9969 | Microplastics affect the ammonia oxidation performance of aerobic granular sludge and enrich the intracellular and extracellular antibiotic resistance genes. Microplastics (MPs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), as emerging pollutants, are frequently detected in wastewater treatment plants, and their threats to the environment have received extensive attentions. However, the effects of MPs on the nitrification of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and the spread patterns of intracellular and extracellular ARGs (iARGs and eARGs) in AGS were still unknown. In this study, the responses of AGS to the exposure of 1, 10 and 100 mg/L of typical MPs (polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamide (PA), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE)) and tetracycline were focused on in 3 L nitrifying sequencing batch reactors. 10 mg/L MPs decreased the nitrification function, but nitrification could recover. Furthermore, MPs inhibited ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and enriched nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, leading partial nitrification to losing stability. PVC, PA and PS stimulated the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances and reactive oxygen species. PE had less negative effect on AGS than PVC, PA and PS. The abundances of iARGs and eARGs (tetW, tetE and intI1) increased significantly and the intracellular and extracellular microbial communities obviously shifted in AGS system under MPs stress. Potential pathogenic bacteria might be the common hosts of iARGs and eARGs in AGS system and were enriched in AGS and MPs biofilms. | 2021 | 33387747 |
| 8123 | 4 | 0.9969 | The effect of bulk-biochar and nano-biochar amendment on the removal of antibiotic resistance genes in microplastic contaminated soil. Biochar amendment has significant benefits in removing antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the soil. Nevertheless, there is little information on ARGs removal in microplastic contaminated soil. Herein, a 42-day soil microcosm experiment were carried out to study how two coconut shell biochars (bulk- and nano-size) eliminate soil ARGs with/without microplastic presence. The results showed that microplastic increased significantly the numbers and abundances of ARGs in soil at 14d of cultivation. And, two biochars amendment effectively inhibited soil ARGs spread whether or not microplastic was present, especially for nano-biochar which had more effective removal compared to bulk-biochar. However, microplastic weakened soil ARGs removal after applying same biochar. Two biochars removed ARGs through decreasing horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of ARGs, potential host-bacteria abundances, some bacteria crowding the eco-niche of hosts and promoting soil properties. The adverse effect of microplastic on ARGs removal was mainly caused by weakening mobile genetic elements (MGEs) removal, and by changing soil properties. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that biochar's effect on ARGs profile was changed by its size and microplastic presence through altering MGEs abundances. These results highlight that biochar amendment is still an effective method for ARGs removal in microplastic contaminated soil. | 2024 | 37907163 |
| 7928 | 5 | 0.9967 | Insight into the responses of antibiotic resistance genes in microplastic biofilms to zinc oxide nanoparticles and zinc ions pressures in landfill leachate. Microplastic (MP) biofilms are hotspots of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in landfill environment. MP biofilms in landfill leachate coexist with heavy metals and metallic nanoparticles (NPs) that considered to be the selective agents of ARGs. However, the effects of these selective pressures on ARGs in MP biofilms and their differences in MP-surrounding leachate have not been well understood. Herein, the changes of ARG abundances in MP biofilms and corresponding leachate under zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs and zinc ion (Zn(2+)) pressures were comparatively analyzed. The presence of ZnO NPs and Zn(2+) promoted the enrichment of ARGs in MP biofilms, and the enrichment was more pronounced in ZnO NPs groups. ZnO NPs and especially Zn(2+) mainly decreased the abundances of ARGs in leachate. The increase of integron abundances and reactive oxygen species production in MP biofilms implied the enhanced potential for horizontal transfer of ARGs under ZnO NPs and Zn(2+) pressures. Meanwhile, the co-occurrence pattern between ARGs and bacterial genera in MP biofilms with more diverse potential ARG hosts was more complex than in leachate, and the enrichment of ARG-hosting bacteria in MP biofilms under ZnO NPs and Zn(2+) pressures supported the enrichment of ARGs. | 2023 | 37480611 |
| 8609 | 6 | 0.9966 | Nano-biochar regulates phage-host interactions, reducing antibiotic resistance genes in vermicomposting systems. Biochar amendment reshapes microbial community dynamics in vermicomposting, but the mechanism of how phages respond to this anthropogenic intervention and regulate the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) remains unclear. In this study, we used metagenomics, viromics, and laboratory validation to explore how nano-biochar affects phage-host interactions and ARGs dissemination in vermicomposting. Our results revealed distinct niche-specific phage life strategies. In vermicompost, lytic phages dominated and used a "kill-the-winner" strategy to suppress antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). In contrast, lysogenic phages prevailed in the earthworm gut, adopting a "piggyback-the-winner" strategy that promoted ARGs transduction through mutualistic host interactions. Nano-biochar induced the conversion of lysogenic to lytic phages in the earthworm gut, while concurrently reducing the abundance of lysogenic phages and their encoded auxiliary metabolic genes carried by ARB. This shift disrupted phage-host mutualism and inhibited ARGs transmission via a "phage shunting" mechanism. In vitro validation with batch culture experiments further confirmed that lysogenic phages increased transduction of ARGs in the earthworm gut, while nano-biochar reduced the spread of ARGs by enhancing lysis infectivity. Our study constructs a mechanistic framework linking nano-biochar induced shifts in phage lifestyles that suppress ARG spread, offering insights into phage-host coadaptation and resistance mitigation strategies in organic waste treatment ecosystems. | 2025 | 40838886 |
| 8644 | 7 | 0.9966 | Biotic and abiotic drivers of soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus and metal dynamic changes during spontaneous restoration of Pb-Zn mining wastelands. The biotic and abiotic mechanisms that drive important biogeochemical processes (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and metals dynamics) in metal mine revegetation remains elusive. Metagenomic sequencing was used to explored vegetation, soil properties, microbial communities, functional genes and their impacts on soil processes during vegetation restoration in a typical Pb-Zn mine. The results showed a clear niche differentiation between bacteria, fungi and archaea. Compared to bacteria and fungi, the archaea richness were more tightly coupled with natural restoration changes. The relative abundances of CAZyme-related, denitrification-related and metal resistance genes reduced, while nitrification, urease, inorganic phosphorus solubilisation, phosphorus transport, and phosphorus regulation -related genes increased. Redundancy analysis, hierarchical partitioning analysis, relative-importance analysis and partial least squares path modelling, indicated that archaea diversity, primarily influenced by available lead, directly impacts carbon dynamics. Functional genes, significantly affected by available cadmium, directly alter nitrogen dynamics. Additionally, pH affects phosphorus dynamics through changes in bacterial diversity, while metal dynamics are directly influenced by vegetation. These insights elucidate natural restoration mechanisms in mine and highlight the importance of archaea in soil processes. | 2025 | 40054196 |
| 8125 | 8 | 0.9966 | The removal performances and evaluation of heavy metals, antibiotics, and resistomes driven by peroxydisulfate amendment during composting. This study aimed to explore the effect of peroxydisulfate on the removal of heavy metals, antibiotics, heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs), and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) during composting. The results showed that peroxydisulfate achieved the passivation of Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu by promoting their speciation variations, thus reducing their bioavailability. And the residual antibiotics were better degraded by peroxydisulfate. In addition, metagenomics analysis indicated that the relative abundance of most HMRGs, ARGs, and MGEs was more effectively down-regulated by peroxydisulfate. Network analysis confirmed Thermobifida and Streptomyces were dominant potential host bacteria of HMRGs and ARGs, whose relative abundance was also effectively down-regulated by peroxydisulfate. Finally, mantel test showed the significant effect of the evolution of microbial communities and strong oxidation of peroxydisulfate on the removal of pollutants. These results suggested that heavy metals, antibiotics, HMRGs, and ARGs shared a joint fate of being removed driven by peroxydisulfate during composting. | 2023 | 37307729 |
| 6934 | 9 | 0.9966 | Impact of protist predation on bacterial community traits in river sediments. Sediment-associated microbial communities are pivotal in driving biogeochemical processes and serve as key indicators of ecosystem health and function. However, the ecological impact of protist predation on these microbial communities remains poorly understood. Here, sediment microcosms were established with varying concentrations of indigenous protists. Results revealed that protist predation exerted strong and differential effects on the bacterial community composition, functional capabilities, and antibiotic resistance profiles. Higher levels of protist predation pressure increased bacterial alpha diversity and relative abundance of genera associated with carbon and nitrogen cycling, such as Fusibacter, Methyloversatilis, Azospirillum, and Holophaga. KEGG analysis indicated that protist predation stimulated microbial processes related to the carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles. Notably, the relative abundance and associated health risks of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), virulence factor genes (VFGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were affected by predation pressure. Medium protist predation pressure increased the relative abundance and potential risks associated with ARGs, whereas high protist concentrations led to a reduction in both, likely due to a decrease in the relative abundance of ARG-hosting pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Aeromonas. These findings provide comprehensive insights into the dynamics of bacterial communities under protist predation in river sediment ecosystems. | 2025 | 40885182 |
| 8124 | 10 | 0.9966 | Effect of graphene and graphene oxide on antibiotic resistance genes during copper-contained swine manure anaerobic digestion. Copper is an important selectors for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) transfer because of metal-antibiotic cross-resistance and/or coresistance. Due to carbon-based materials' good adsorption capacity for heavy metals, graphene and graphene oxide have great potential to reduce ARGs abundance in the environment with copper pollution. To figure out the mechanics, this study investigated the effects of graphene and graphene oxide on the succession of ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs), and bacterial communities during copper-contained swine manure anaerobic digestion. Results showed that graphene and graphene oxide could reduce ARGs abundance in varying degrees with the anaerobic reactors that contained a higher concentration of copper. Nevertheless, graphene decreased the abundance of ARGs more effectively than graphene oxide. Phylum-level bacteria such as Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Spirochaetes, and Verrucomicrobiaat were significantly positively correlated with most ARGs. Network and redundancy analyses demonstrated that alterations in the bacterial community are one of the main factors leading to the changes in ARGs. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Spirochaetes were enriched lower in graphene reactor than graphene oxide in anaerobic digestion products, which may be the main reason that graphene is superior to graphene oxide in reduced ARGs abundance. Additionally, ARGs were close to HMRGs than MGEs in the treatments with graphene, the opposite in graphene oxide reactors. Therefore, we speculate that the reduction of HMRGs in graphene may contribute to the result that graphene is superior to graphene oxide in reduced ARGs abundance in anaerobic digestion. | 2023 | 36394812 |
| 7939 | 11 | 0.9966 | Metagenomic insights into the distribution, mobility, and hosts of extracellular antibiotic resistance genes in activated sludge under starvation stress. Extracellular antibiotic resistance genes (eARGs) are important emerging environmental pollutants in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Nutritional substrate deficiency (i.e., starvation) frequently occurs in WWTPs owing to annual maintenance, water quality fluctuation, and sludge storage; and it can greatly alter the antibiotic resistance and extracellular DNA content of bacteria. However, the fate and corresponding transmission risk of eARGs in activated sludge under starvation stress remain largely unknown. Herein, we used metagenomic sequencing to explore the effects of starvation scenarios (carbon, nitrogen, and/or phosphorus deficiency) and environmental conditions (alternating anaerobic-aerobic, anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic) on the distribution, mobility, and hosts of eARGs in activated sludge. The results showed that 30 days of starvation reduced the absolute abundances of eARGs by 40.9%-88.2%, but high-risk dual and multidrug resistance genes persisted. Starvation, particularly the simultaneous lack of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus under aerobic conditions, effectively alleviated eARGs by reducing the abundance of extracellular mobile genetic elements (eMGEs). Starvation also altered the profile of bacterial hosts of eARGs and the bacterial community composition, the latter of which had an indirect positive effect on eARGs via changing eMGEs. Our findings shed light on the response patterns and mechanisms of eARGs in activated sludge under starvation conditions and highlight starvation as a potential strategy to mitigate the risk of previously neglected eARGs in WWTPs. | 2023 | 37060877 |
| 7930 | 12 | 0.9965 | Fates of extracellular and intracellular antibiotic resistance genes in activated sludge and plastisphere under sulfadiazine pressure. Microplastics, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) represent prominent emerging contaminants that can potentially hinder the efficacy of biological wastewater treatment and pose health risks. Plastisphere as a distinct ecological niche for microorganisms, acts as a repository for ARGs and potential pathogenic bacteria. Nonetheless, the spread pattern of extracellular ARGs (eARGs) and intracellular ARGs (iARGs) in plastisphere under antibiotic exposure was not yet known. This study aimed to investigate disparities in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production, extracellular and intracellular microbial community structures, as well as the transmission of eARGs and iARGs between activated sludge and plastisphere in an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic system under sulfadiazine (SDZ) exposure. SDZ was found to enhance EPS production in activated sludge and plastisphere. Interestingly, as SDZ removal efficiency increased, EPS content decreased in activated sludge and plastisphere collected from oxic zone, and continued to increase in plastisphere samples collected from anaerobic and anoxic zones. There were significant differences in microbial community structure between activated sludge and plastisphere, and the DNA fragments of potential pathogenic bacteria were detected in extracellular samples. SDZ exhibited a promoting effect on the propagation of eARGs, which were more abundant in the plastisphere than in activated sludge, thus heightening the risk of ARGs dissemination. Extracellular mobile genetic elements played a pivotal role in driving the spread of eARGs, while the microbial community induced the changes of iARGs. Potential pathogenic bacteria emerged as potential hosts for ARGs and mobile genetic elements within activated sludge and plastisphere, leading to more serious environmental threats. | 2023 | 37898001 |
| 7929 | 13 | 0.9965 | Size-dependent effects of microplastics on antibiotic resistance genes fate in wastewater treatment systems: The role of changed surface property and microbial assemblages in a continuous exposure mode. Microplastics (MPs) were continuously transported to wastewater treatment systems and accumulated in sludge constantly, potentially affecting systems function and co-occurrent contaminants fate. However, previous studies were based on acute exposure of MPs, which could not reflect the dynamics of MPs accumulation. Herein, this study firstly raised a more realistic method to evaluate the practical impacts of MPs on systems purification efficiency and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) fate. Continuous exposure of MPs did not pose negative effects on nutrients removal, but significantly changed the occurrence patterns of ARGs. ARGs abundances increased by 42.8 % and 54.3 % when exposed to millimeter-size MPs (mm-MPs) polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate, but increased by 31.3 % and 39.4 % to micron-size MPs (μm-MPs), respectively. Thus, mm-MPs posed severer effects on ARGs than μm-MPs. Further, mm-MPs surface properties were obviously altered after long-term exposure (higher specific surface area and O-containing species), which benefited microbes attachment. More importantly, more taxa linkages and changed topological properties (higher average degree and average weight) of co-occurrent network were observed in sludge with mm-MPs than with μm-MPs, as well as totally different potential host bacteria of ARGs. Rough surface of MPs and closer relations between ARGs and bacteria taxa contributed to the propagation of ARGs, which accounted for the observed higher ARGs abundances of mm-MPs. This study demonstrated that long-term accumulation of MPs in wastewater treatment systems affected ARGs fate, and mm-MPs caused severer risk due to their enrichment of ARGs. The results would promote the understanding of MPs real environmental behavior and influences. | 2022 | 36037899 |
| 6919 | 14 | 0.9965 | Enhanced removal of antibiotic resistance genes during chicken manure composting after combined inoculation of Bacillus subtilis with biochar. This study explored the combined effects of Bacillus subtilis inoculation with biochar on the evolution of bacterial communities, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) during the composting of chicken manure. The results showed that B. subtilis inoculation combined with biochar increased bacterial abundance and diversity as well as prolonged the compost thermophilic period. Promoted organic matter biodegradation and facilitated the organic waste compost humification process, reduced the proliferation of ARGs by altering the bacterial composition. Firmicutes and Actinobacteriota were the main resistant bacteria related to ARGs and MGEs. The decrease in ARGs and MGEs was associated with the reduction in the abundance of related host bacteria. Compost inoculation with B. subtilis and the addition of biochar could promote nutrient transformation, reduce the increase in ARGs and MGEs, and increase the abundance of beneficial soil taxa. | 2024 | 37778803 |
| 8591 | 15 | 0.9965 | Nanoscale zero-valent iron alleviate antibiotic resistance risk during managed aquifer recharge (MAR) by regulating denitrifying bacterial network. The frequent occurrence of antibiotics in reclaimed water is concerning, in the case of managed aquifer recharge (MAR), it inevitably hinders further water purification and accelerates the evolutionary resistance in indigenous bacteria. In this study, we constructed two column reactors and nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) amendment was applied for its effects on water quality variation, microbial community succession, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) dissemination, deciphered the underlying mechanism of resistance risk reduction. Results showed that nZVI was oxidized to iron oxides in the sediment column, and total effluent iron concentration was within permissible limits. nZVI enhanced NO(3)(-)-N removal by 15.5% through enriching denitrifying bacteria and genes, whereas made no effects on oxacillin (OXA) removal. In addition, nZVI exhibited a pivotal impact on ARGs and plasmids decreasing. Network analysis elucidated that the diversity and richness of ARG host declined with nZVI amendment. Denitrifying bacteria play a key role in suppressing horizontal gene transfer (HGT). The underlying mechanisms of inhibited HGT included the downregulated SOS response, the inhibited Type-Ⅳ secretion system and the weakened driving force. This study afforded vital insights into ARG spread control, providing a reference for future applications of nZVI in MAR. | 2024 | 38134694 |
| 8594 | 16 | 0.9964 | Attenuation effects of iron on dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic bioreactor: Evolution of quorum sensing, quorum quenching and dynamics of community composition. Zero valent iron (ZVI) coupled with bioreactors is arising as a promising technology for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) mitigation, whereas the succession and behaviors of microbes caused by ZVI in relieving ARGs propagation remain unclear. Herein, the effects of ZVI on microbial quorum sensing (QS), quorum quenching (QQ) system and community dynamics were examined in anaerobic bioreactor fed with oxytetracycline (tet), to illustrate the roles of evolutive microbial communication and community composition in ARGs attenuation. With the addition of 5 g/L ZVI, the total absolute abundance of tet ARGs was retarded by approximate 95% and 72% in sludge and effluent after 25 days operation. The abundance of mobile genetic elements and the heredity of antibiotic resistant bacteria revealed the declined horizontal and vertical transfer of ARGs, which directly led to the reduced ARGs propagation. Potential mechanisms are that the positive effects of ZVI on QQ activity via the functional bacteria enrichment inhibited QS system and thus ARGs transfer. Partial least--squares path modeling further demonstrated that ARGs abundance was strongly limited by the dynamics of bacterial composition and thereby less frequent microbial communication. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms of antibiotic resistome remission in anaerobic bioreactor modified by ZVI. | 2021 | 34492925 |
| 6936 | 17 | 0.9964 | Pivotal role of earthworm gut protists in mediating antibiotic resistance genes under microplastic and sulfamethoxazole stress in soil-earthworm systems. Microplastics (MPs) are currently receiving widespread attention worldwide, and their co-occurrence with antibiotics is unavoidable. However, our understanding of how protists respond to co-pollution and mediate antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) profiles remains exceedingly limited, particularly within non-target animals' guts. To bridge these gaps, we investigated the individual and combined effects of polyethylene and sulfamethoxazole (SMZ) on microbial communities and ARGs in soil and earthworm guts. We found that the MP-SMZ combination significantly elevated the abundance and richness of ARGs in the soil and earthworm. Protistan compositions (particularly consumers) responded more strongly to pollutants than did bacterial and fungal communities, especially under combined pollution. Interkingdom cooccurrence network analysis revealed that protists had stronger and more effective interactions with the resistome in the earthworm guts, suggesting that the impact of these protists on ARGs compositional changes was potentially modulated through the "top-down" regulation of bacteria and fungi. Meta-cooccurrence networks further confirmed that protist-related networks had more keystone pollution-sensitive ASVs (psASVs) and these psASVs were mostly associated with protistan consumers. Our study highlights protists as promising agents for regulating and monitoring microbial functions, as well as the ecological risks of the antibiotic resistome associated with MPs and SMZ pollution in agricultural ecosystems. | 2025 | 40412325 |
| 6937 | 18 | 0.9964 | Differential responses of bacterial and archaeal communities to biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics in river. Microplastics are widespread environmental pollutants that pose risks to ecosystems, yet their effects on bacterial and archaeal communities in aquatic ecosystems remain understudied. In this study, we performed a 14-day microcosm experiment combined with metagenomic sequencing to compare bacterial and archaeal responses to a biodegradable microplastic (polylactic acid, PLA) and a non-biodegradable microplastic (polyvinyl chloride, PVC). Microplastics selectively enriched distinct microbial assemblages, with Pseudomonadota and Euryarchaeota identified as the dominant bacterial and archaeal phyla, accounting for 67.83 % and 15.95 %, respectively. Archaeal community in surrounding water were more sensitive to colonization time than bacterial community. Compared to the surrounding water, the plastisphere displayed simpler and more loosely connected microbial networks. Notably, co-occurrence networks of both bacteria and archaea in the PVC plastisphere were predominantly shaped by symbiotic interactions. Both bacteria and archaea carried diverse antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but PLS-PM indicated that bacteria were the primary drivers of ARG dissemination (path coefficient = 0.952). While the PVC plastisphere showed higher ARG abundance than the PLA plastisphere, elevated intI1 expression in the PLA plastisphere suggests a potentially greater risk of ARG dissemination associated with PLA microplastics. These findings reveal the distinct effects of PLA and PVC microplastics on microbial communities and highlight the role of microplastics in ARG dissemination, emphasizing their ecological risks in aquatic ecosystems. | 2025 | 40712359 |
| 8593 | 19 | 0.9964 | Preference and regulation mechanism mediated via mobile genetic elements for antibiotic and metal resistomes during composting amended with nano ZVI loaded on biochar. This study assessed the effectiveness of nano zero-valent iron loaded on biochar (BC-nZVI) during swine manure composting. BC-nZVI significantly reduced the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), metal resistance genes (MRGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). BC-nZVI modified the preference of MGEs to carry ARGs and MRGs, and the corrosion products of BC-nZVI could destroy cell structure, hinder electron transfer between cells, and weaken the association between ARGs, MRGs, and host bacteria. Functional genes analysis revealed that BC-nZVI down-regulated the abundance of genes affecting the transmission and metabolism of ARGs and MRGs, including type IV secretion systems, transporter systems, two-component systems, and multidrug efflux pumps. Furthermore, the BC-nZVI decreased genes related to flagella and pili production and cell membrane permeability, thereby hindering the transfer of ARGs, MRGs, and MGEs in the environment. Redundancy analysis demonstrated that changes in the microbial community induced by BC-nZVI were pivotal factors impacting the abundance of ARGs, MRGs, and MGEs. Overall, this study confirmed the efficacy of BC-nZVI in reducing resistance genes during swine manure composting, offering a promising environmental strategy to mitigate the dissemination of these contaminants. | 2024 | 38992827 |