Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Institute of Biological Research, Branch of NIRDBS, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Microbiol Spectr. 2022 Apr 27;10(2):e0271121. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02711-21. Epub 2022 Mar 2.
The spatiotemporal variation of several carbapenemase-encoding genes (CRGs) was investigated in the influent and effluent of municipal WWTPs, with or without hospital sewage input. Correlations among gene abundances, bacterial community composition, and wastewater quality parameters were tested to identify possible predictors of CRGs presence. Also, the possible role of wastewaters in mirroring clinical resistance is discussed. The taxonomic groups and gene abundances showed an even distribution among wastewater types, meaning that hospital sewage does not influence the microbial diversity and the CRG pool. The bacterial community was composed mainly of , , , , and . Acinetobacter spp. was the most abundant group and had the majority of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) positively correlated with CRGs. This agrees with recent reports on clinical data. The influent samples were dominated by , as opposed to effluent, where was dominant. Also, was the most frequent CRG family observed to correlate with bacterial taxa, especially with the Mycobacterium genus in effluent samples. Bacterial load, , , and abundances were positively correlated with BOD, TSS, HEM, Cr, Cu, and Fe concentrations in wastewaters. When influent gene abundance values were converted into population equivalent (PE) data, the highest copies/1 PE were identified for and , agreeing with previous studies regarding clinical isolates. Both hospital and non-hospital-type samples followed a similar temporal trend of CRG incidence, but with differences among gene groups. Colder seasons favored the presence of , and , whereas warmer temperatures show increased PE values for and . Wastewater-based epidemiology has recently been recognized as a valuable, cost-effective tool for antimicrobial resistance surveillance. It can help gain insights into the characteristics and distribution of antibiotic resistance elements at a local, national, and even global scale. In this study, we investigated the possible use of municipal wastewaters in the surveillance of clinically relevant carbapenemase-encoding genes (CRGs), seen as critical antibiotic resistance determinants. In this matter, our results highlight positive correlations among CRGs, microbial diversity, and wastewater physical and chemical parameters. Identified predictors can provide valuable data regarding the level of raw and treated wastewater contamination with these important antibiotic resistance genes. Also, wastewater-based gene abundances were used for the first time to observe possible spatiotemporal trends of CRGs incidence in the general population. Therefore, possible hot spots of carbapenem resistance could be easily identified at the community level, surpassing the limitations of health care-associated settings.
研究了在有和没有医院污水输入的城市污水处理厂进水中和出水中几种碳青霉烯酶编码基因（CRGs）的时空变化。测试了基因丰度、细菌群落组成与废水质量参数之间的相关性，以确定 CRGs 存在的可能预测因子。此外，还讨论了废水中可能反映临床耐药性的作用。在废水类型之间，分类群和基因丰度表现出均匀分布，这意味着医院污水不会影响微生物多样性和 CRG 池。细菌群落主要由 、 、 、 和 组成。不动杆菌属是最丰富的群体，并且具有与 CRGs 呈正相关的大多数操作分类单元（OTUs）。这与最近关于临床数据的报告一致。进水样本以 为主，而与 相比，出水样本以 为主。此外，在出水样本中，与细菌分类群最相关的是 ，尤其是与分枝杆菌属。细菌负荷、 、 、 和 丰度与废水中 BOD、TSS、HEM、Cr、Cu 和 Fe 浓度呈正相关。当将进水基因丰度值转换为种群当量（PE）数据时，发现 拷贝/1 PE 最高的是 和 ，这与之前关于临床分离株的研究一致。医院和非医院类型的样本都遵循相似的 CRG 发生率时间趋势，但基因组之间存在差异。寒冷季节有利于 和 的存在，而温暖的温度则显示 和 的 PE 值增加。
废水流行病学最近已被公认为一种有价值的、具有成本效益的抗生素耐药性监测工具。它可以帮助我们深入了解抗生素耐药元素在当地、全国甚至全球范围内的特征和分布。在这项研究中，我们研究了城市污水在监测临床上相关的碳青霉烯酶编码基因（CRGs）中的可能用途，这些基因被视为关键的抗生素耐药决定因素。在这方面，我们的结果强调了 CRGs、微生物多样性以及废水物理和化学参数之间的正相关关系。确定的预测因子可以提供有关这些重要抗生素耐药基因对原始和处理后的废水污染水平的有价值的数据。此外，还首次使用基于废水的基因丰度来观察普通人群中 CRGs 发生率的可能时空趋势。因此，在社区层面上，可以很容易地识别出碳青霉烯耐药的热点，从而超越了与卫生保健相关的设置的局限性。
