College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, China; Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2021 Oct 5;419:126465. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126465. Epub 2021 Jun 24.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and their resistance genes (ARGs) are emerging environmental pollutants that pose great threats to human health. In this study, a novel strategy using plasma was developed to simultaneously remove antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (AR bio-56954 E. coli) and its ARGs, aiming to inhibit gene transfer by conjugation. Approximately 6.6 log AR bio-56954 E. coli was inactivated within 10 min plasma treatment, and the antibiotic resistance to tested antibiotics (tetracycline, gentamicin, and amoxicillin) significantly decreased. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) including •OH, O, O•, NO, and NO contributed to ARB and ARGs elimination; their attacks led to destruction of cell membrane, accumulation of excessive intracellular reactive oxygen substances, deterioration of conformational structures of proteins, and destroy of nucleotide bases of DNA. As a result, the ARGs (tet(C), tet(W), blaTEM-1, aac(3)-II), and integron gene intI1), and conjugative transfer frequency of ARGs significantly decreased after plasma treatment. The results demonstrated that plasma has great prospective application in removing ARB and ARGs in water, inhibiting gene transfer by conjugation.
抗生素耐药菌（ARB）及其耐药基因（ARGs）是新兴的环境污染物，对人类健康构成了巨大威胁。在本研究中，开发了一种使用等离子体的新策略，以同时去除抗生素耐药大肠杆菌（AR bio-56954 E. coli）及其 ARGs，旨在抑制通过接合进行的基因转移。在 10 分钟的等离子体处理内，大约 6.6 个对数的 AR bio-56954 E. coli 被灭活，并且对测试抗生素（四环素、庆大霉素和阿莫西林）的抗生素耐药性显著降低。活性氧和氮物质（RONS），包括 •OH、O、O•、NO 和 NO，有助于 ARB 和 ARGs 的消除；它们的攻击导致细胞膜破坏、细胞内过多的活性氧物质积累、蛋白质构象结构恶化以及 DNA 核苷酸碱基破坏。结果，ARGs（tet(C)、tet(W)、blaTEM-1、aac(3)-II）和整合子基因 intI1）以及 ARGs 的接合转移频率在等离子体处理后显著降低。结果表明，等离子体在去除水中的 ARB 和 ARGs 以及抑制基因通过接合转移方面具有广阔的应用前景。
