Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 500 Bartholomew Dr, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States.
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 500 Bartholomew Dr, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Mar 15;656:495-502. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.325. Epub 2018 Nov 22.
Antibiotic resistance is a public health issue with links to environmental sources of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). ARGs from nonviable sources may pose a hazard given the potential for transformation whereas ARGs in viable sources may proliferate during host growth or conjugation. In this study, ARGs in the effluent from three municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the receiving surface waters were investigated using a viability-based qPCR technique (vPCR) with propidium monoazide (PMA). ARGs sul1, tet(G), and bla, fecal indicator marker BacHum, and 16S rRNA gene copies/mL were found to be significantly lower in viable-cells than in total concentrations for WWTP effluent. Viable-cell and total gene copy concentrations were similar in downstream samples except for tet(G). Differences with respect to season in the prevalence of nonviable ARGs in surface water or WWTP effluent were not observed. The results of this study indicate that qPCR may overestimate viable-cell ARGs and fecal indicator genes in WWTP effluent but not necessarily in the surface water >1.8 km downstream.
抗生素耐药性是一个公共卫生问题，与环境来源的抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）有关。由于潜在的转化可能性，非存活来源的 ARGs 可能构成危害，而存活来源的 ARGs 可能在宿主生长或接合过程中增殖。在这项研究中，使用基于活力的 qPCR 技术（vPCR）与吖啶橙（PMA）对来自三个城市污水处理厂（WWTP）和受纳地表水的废水中的 ARGs 进行了研究。发现 WWTP 废水中的 sul1、tet(G) 和 bla、粪便指示标记 BacHum 和 16S rRNA 基因拷贝数/mL 在活细胞中的浓度明显低于总浓度。下游样本中的活细胞和总基因拷贝浓度相似，除了 tet(G)。未观察到地表水或 WWTP 废水中非存活 ARGs 随季节变化的差异。本研究结果表明，qPCR 可能高估 WWTP 废水中活细胞 ARGs 和粪便指示基因，但在下游>1.8km 的地表水则不一定如此。
