CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Shandong Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes, YICCAS, Yantai Shandong, 264003, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong, 264025, PR China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2019 Nov 30;184:109631. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109631. Epub 2019 Sep 9.
Microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are two kinds of emerging contaminants with frequent detection in coastal regions. However, rare information on co-occurrence of microplastics and ARGs in coastal recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) is available. This study performed field sampling and laboratory analysis to investigate the distribution of microplastics and ARGs in a typical RAS farm. The results showed that microplastics were detected in all water samples with the abundances ranging from 58 to 72 items/m. Absolute abundances of total 10 ARGs in water samples ranged from 3.24 × 10 to 7.83 × 10 copies/mL while those on microplastic samples were in the range of 1.59 × 10-1.83 × 10 copies/g. Microbial communities of microplastics and water showed significant difference at both phylum and genus levels. Microbial community diversity of microplastics was higher than that of water. ARGs including tetG, qnrS, sul1, sul2, and ermF possessed relatively more active relationships with bacterial community in water and on microplastics of the RAS farm. The results suggested that microplastics might be an important reservoir of ARGs in RAS farms. The findings of this study will provide useful information on pollution control and environmental management for both microplastics and ARGs in coastal aquaculture systems.
微塑料和抗生素抗性基因（ARGs）是两种常见的新兴污染物，在沿海地区经常被检测到。然而，关于微塑料和 ARGs 在沿海循环水产养殖系统（RAS）中共同存在的信息却很少。本研究通过野外采样和实验室分析，调查了典型 RAS 养殖场中微塑料和 ARGs 的分布情况。结果表明，所有水样中均检测到微塑料，丰度范围为 58 至 72 项/m。水样中总 10 种 ARGs 的绝对丰度范围为 3.24×10 至 7.83×10 拷贝/mL，而微塑料样品中的丰度范围为 1.59×10-1.83×10 拷贝/g。微塑料和水样中的微生物群落在门和属水平上均存在显著差异。微塑料的微生物群落多样性高于水样。ARGs 包括 tetG、qnrS、sul1、sul2 和 ermF，与 RAS 养殖场水和微塑料中的细菌群落具有相对更活跃的关系。结果表明，微塑料可能是 RAS 养殖场中 ARGs 的一个重要储存库。本研究结果将为沿海水产养殖系统中微塑料和 ARGs 的污染控制和环境管理提供有用信息。
