College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China; School of Life Sciences, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Department of Chemical Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology, No. 1088, Xueyuan Avenue, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2024 May 15;470:134149. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134149. Epub 2024 Mar 27.
Whether bisphenols, as plasticizers, can influence bacterial uptake of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in natural environment, as well as the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Our results showed that four commonly used bisphenols (bisphenol A, S, F, and AF) at their environmental relative concentrations can significantly promote transmission of ARGs by 2.97-3.56 times in Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1. Intriguingly, we observed ADP1 acquired resistance by integrating plasmids uptake and cellular metabolic adaptations other than through reactive oxygen species mediated pathway. Metabolic adaptations including upregulation of capsules polysaccharide biosynthesis and intracellularly metabolic enzymes, which enabled formation of thicker capsules for capturing free plasmids, and degradation of accumulated compounds. Simultaneously, genes encoding DNA uptake and translocation machinery were incorporated to enhance natural transformation of antibiotic resistance carrying plasmids. We further exposed aquatic fish to bisphenols for 120 days to monitor their long-term effects in aquatic environment, which showed that intestinal bacteria communities were dominated by a drug resistant microbiome. Our study provides new insight into the mechanism of enhanced natural transformation of ARGs by bisphenols, and highlights the investigations for unexpectedly-elevated antibiotic-resistant risks by structurally related environmental chemicals.
双酚类物质作为增塑剂，是否会影响细菌在自然环境中摄取抗生素耐药基因（ARGs），以及其潜在的机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。我们的研究结果表明，在环境相关浓度下，四种常用的双酚类物质（双酚 A、S、F 和 AF）可以显著促进鲍曼不动杆菌 ADP1 中 ARGs 的传播，其促进作用是 2.97-3.56 倍。有趣的是，我们观察到 ADP1 通过整合质粒摄取和细胞代谢适应，而不是通过活性氧介导的途径获得耐药性。代谢适应包括上调荚膜多糖生物合成和细胞内代谢酶，这使得 ADP1 能够形成更厚的荚膜来捕获游离质粒，并降解积累的化合物。同时，还整合了编码 DNA 摄取和转运机制的基因，以增强携带抗生素耐药性的质粒的自然转化。我们进一步将水生鱼类暴露于双酚类物质中 120 天，以监测其在水生环境中的长期影响，结果表明肠道细菌群落主要由耐药微生物组主导。我们的研究为双酚类物质增强 ARGs 自然转化的机制提供了新的见解，并强调了对结构相关环境化学物质引起的抗生素耐药性风险的意外升高的研究。
