Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708PB Wageningen, the Netherlands; College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, 712100 Yangling, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 15;773:145643. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145643. Epub 2021 Feb 6.
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and microplastics in the environment are of great public concern due to their potential risk to human health. Microplastics can form distinct bacterial communities and absorb pollutants from the surrounding environment, which provide potential hosts and exert possible selection pressure of ARGs. We provide a practical evaluation of the scientific literature regarding this issue. The occurrence and transport of ARGs on microplastics in wastewater treatment plants, aquatic, terrestrial, and air environments were summarized. Selective enrichment of ARGs and antibiotic resistance bacteria on microplastics have been confirmed in different environments. Aggregates may be crucial to understand the behavior and transport of ARGs on microplastics, especially in the aquatic and terrestrial environment. Microplastics could be a carrier of ARGs between the environment and animals. Accumulation of pollutants and dense bacterial communities on microplastics provide favorable conditions for higher transfer rate and evolution of ARGs. More studies are still needed to understand the enrichment, transport, and transfer of ARGs on microplastics and provide a fundamental basis for evaluating their exposure health risk to humans.
抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）和环境中的微塑料引起了公众的极大关注，因为它们可能对人类健康造成威胁。微塑料可以形成独特的细菌群落，并从周围环境中吸收污染物，为 ARGs 提供潜在的宿主并施加可能的选择压力。我们对这一问题的科学文献进行了实际评估。总结了污水处理厂、水、陆、气环境中微塑料上 ARGs 的发生和迁移。在不同环境中已证实 ARGs 和抗生素耐药菌在微塑料上的选择性富集。团聚体对于理解微塑料上 ARGs 的行为和迁移可能至关重要，尤其是在水和陆地环境中。微塑料可能是环境和动物之间 ARGs 的载体。污染物和密集细菌群落在微塑料上的积累为 ARGs 更高的转移率和进化提供了有利条件。仍需要更多的研究来了解微塑料上 ARGs 的富集、迁移和转移，并为评估其对人类暴露健康风险提供基础。
