Wang Linqiong, Zhu Mengjie, Li Yi, Zhao Zhe, Hu Tong
College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Dec;29(60):90207-90218. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-22096-8. Epub 2022 Jul 22.
Antibiotic resistance has become a concerning global health challenge, such as the dissemination of bacteria and genes between humans and the environments. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) effluents, as significant reservoirs for antimicrobial resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), pose critical risks to public health. However, whether wastewater effluent prominently contributes to the abundance of ARGs and their community assembly processes in receiving river has yet been unclear. Here we investigated the effects of the effluent discharge on the ARGs and their associate microbial community in the receiving river (Qinhuai River, Nanjing) of upstream and 2000 m downstream of one WWTPs discharge point. Results revealed that the total antibiotic concentrations of all sediment samples ranged from 37.86 to 76.11 µg/kg dw, while antibiotic concentrations and ARG abundances in the river near the wastewater discharge site were significantly higher than that of the downstream receiving river. The metagenomic assembly obtained 245 ARGs associated with 19 antibiotic types in the receiving river. Network analyses confirmed that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroides were the key phylum and positively correlated with the antibiotic resistome. Additionally, the bacterial pathogens of the receiving river were identified as the most frequent strains of clinically relevant antibacterial resistance, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Using null modeling analysis to determine the quantification of ecological processes, the results showed that heterogeneous environmental selection (81.81%) was a dominate role of the ecological mechanisms determining the ARG community reconstruction in the receiving river. Our results may contribute to control the environmental dissemination of antimicrobial resistance risks in aquatic environments.
抗生素耐药性已成为一个令人担忧的全球健康挑战，例如细菌和基因在人类与环境之间的传播。污水处理厂（WWTPs）的废水作为抗微生物耐药细菌和抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）的重要储存库，对公众健康构成了重大风险。然而，废水排放是否显著影响受纳河流中ARGs的丰度及其群落组装过程仍不清楚。在此，我们调查了一个污水处理厂排放点上游和下游2000米处的受纳河流（南京秦淮河）中废水排放对ARGs及其相关微生物群落的影响。结果显示，所有沉积物样本中的总抗生素浓度范围为37.86至76.11µg/kg干重，而废水排放点附近河流中的抗生素浓度和ARGs丰度显著高于下游受纳河流。宏基因组组装在受纳河流中获得了与19种抗生素类型相关的245个ARGs。网络分析证实，变形菌门、厚壁菌门、酸杆菌门和拟杆菌门是关键门类，且与抗生素抗性组呈正相关。此外，受纳河流中的细菌病原体被鉴定为临床相关抗菌耐药性的最常见菌株，如肺炎链球菌、铜绿假单胞菌和鲍曼不动杆菌。使用零模型分析来确定生态过程的量化，结果表明异质环境选择（81.81%）是决定受纳河流中ARG群落重建的生态机制的主导因素。我们的结果可能有助于控制水生环境中抗微生物耐药性风险的环境传播。
