School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China; State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
Environ Pollut. 2022 Oct 15;311:119991. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119991. Epub 2022 Aug 17.
Many contaminants were carried by dust, a common environment media that is easy to contact with human beings, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) as an emergency pollutant also harbor in dust and pose serious threats to human health especially those carried by opportunistic pathogens because inactivation of antibiotics caused by ARGs may enhance pathogenicity. Considering there is a gap of investigation of dust ARGs, 16 S rRNA gene sequences and high-throughput quantitative PCR were employed to obtain information of microbial communities and accumulated ARGs in dust from different urban places, including the malls, hospitals, schools and parks, to investigate the distribution and influencing factors of ARGs and discover the potential hosts of ARGs in dust. Here, 9 types of ARGs such as sulfonamide, tetracycline, and beta-lactamase and 71 subtypes of ARGs like sul1, tetM-01, and drfA1 were detected in dust. ARGs had varying distribution in different public places and seasons in dust. The abundances of total ARGs, MLSB and tetracycline genes were higher in spring than summer. The diversity of ARGs was highest in malls, follow by hospitals, schools, and parks. Additionally, multi-drug resistance genes in dust were more abundant in hospitals than in schools and parks. The microbes were distinguished as the most important driving factors for ARGs in dust, followed by the mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and different places, while dust physicochemical parameters only exert a negligible impact. Notably, several opportunistic pathogens like the Streptococcus, Vibrio, and Pseudomonas were inferred as potential hosts of high-risk ARGs such as mecA, tetM-02, and tetO-01 in dust because of strongly positive co-occurrence. These results imply that dust is likely an important reservoir of ARGs. We should realize that ARGs may be harbored in some opportunistic pathogens occur in dust and endanger human health because of dust contacting to human easily.
许多污染物都随灰尘传播，灰尘作为一种常见的环境介质，很容易与人类接触，而抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）作为一种紧急污染物也存在于灰尘中，对人类健康构成严重威胁，尤其是由机会性病原体携带的 ARGs，因为 ARGs 会导致抗生素失活，从而增强其致病性。考虑到灰尘中 ARGs 的调查存在空白，本研究采用 16S rRNA 基因序列和高通量定量 PCR 技术，从商场、医院、学校和公园等不同城市场所获取灰尘中微生物群落和累积 ARGs 的信息，研究 ARGs 在灰尘中的分布及影响因素，发现灰尘中 ARGs 的潜在宿主。在此，共检测到磺胺类、四环素类和β-内酰胺类等 9 种 ARGs 和 sul1、tetM-01、drfA1 等 71 种 ARG 亚型。不同公共场所和季节的灰尘中 ARGs 分布不同。春季节尘中总 ARGs、MLSB 和四环素基因的丰度高于夏季。商场中 ARGs 的多样性最高，其次是医院、学校和公园。此外，医院灰尘中的多药耐药基因比学校和公园多。研究表明，灰尘中的微生物是 ARGs 的最重要驱动因素，其次是移动遗传元件（MGEs）和不同场所，而灰尘理化参数的影响可以忽略不计。值得注意的是，一些机会性病原体，如链球菌、弧菌和假单胞菌，由于与高风险 ARGs（如 mecA、tetM-02 和 tetO-01）强烈正相关，被推断为灰尘中高风险 ARGs 的潜在宿主。这些结果表明灰尘可能是 ARGs 的重要储存库。我们应该意识到，由于灰尘容易与人类接触，ARGs 可能存在于灰尘中的一些机会性病原体中，并对人类健康构成威胁。
