Zhang Kai, Xin Rui, Zhao Ze, Li Wenpeng, Wang Yanan, Wang Qian, Niu Zhiguang, Zhang Ying
School of Geographic Sciences, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, 464000, China; Henan Key Laboratory for Synergistic Prevention of Water and Soil Environmental Pollution, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, 464000, China.
School of Marine Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2021 Jan 5;401:123271. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123271. Epub 2020 Jun 22.
Rivers are considered a vital reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and are critical to disseminate ARGs. The present study delved into the ARGs pollution of the sediments in the upper reaches of Huaihe river, one of the seven longest rivers in China, by high-throughput quantitative PCR. Subsequently, the relationship between ARGs and the bacterial community/mobile genetic elements (MGEs) was determined. As revealed from the results, the overall ARGs ranged from 2.65×10 to 6.14×10/16S copies, and the abundance of ARGs in the tributaries was significantly higher than that in the mainstreams (p<0.05). Moreover, the ARGs introduced by tributaries were capable of affecting the whole mainstream of Huaihe river. As suggested from the results of co-occurrence analysis and pRDA analysis, MGEs were reported as the major driver to disseminate ARGs in the upper reaches of Huaihe river basin. The larger the MGEs proportion, the higher the likelihood of ARGs transferring from antibiotic resistance bacteria to human pathogens in Huaihe river.
河流被认为是抗生素抗性基因（ARGs）的重要储存库，对ARGs的传播至关重要。本研究通过高通量定量PCR深入探究了中国七大长河之一淮河上游沉积物中的ARGs污染情况。随后，确定了ARGs与细菌群落/移动遗传元件（MGEs）之间的关系。结果显示，ARGs的总体丰度范围为2.65×10至6.14×10/16S拷贝，支流中ARGs的丰度显著高于主流（p<0.05）。此外，支流引入的ARGs能够影响淮河的整个干流。共现分析和偏冗余分析（pRDA）结果表明，MGEs是淮河上游流域ARGs传播的主要驱动因素。MGEs比例越大，淮河中ARGs从抗药细菌转移到人类病原体的可能性就越高。
