SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China.
SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Environ Int. 2024 Apr;186:108639. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108639. Epub 2024 Apr 7.
Antimicrobial resistance is considered to be one of the biggest public health problems, and airborne transmission is an important but under-appreciated pathway for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. Previous research has shown pharmaceutical factories to be a major source of ARGs and antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in the surrounding receiving water and soil environments. Pharmaceutical factories are hotspots of antibiotic resistance, but the atmospheric transmission and its environmental risk remain more concerns. Here, we conducted a metagenomic investigation into the airborne microbiome and resistome in three pharmaceutical factories in China. Soil (average: 38.45%) and wastewater (average: 28.53%) were major contributors of airborne resistome. ARGs (vanR/vanS, bla and CfxA) conferring resistance to critically important clinically used antibiotics were identified in the air samples. The wastewater treatment area had significantly higher relative abundances of ARGs (average: 0.64 copies/16S rRNA). Approximately 28.2% of the detected airborne ARGs were found to be associated with plasmids, and this increased to about 50% in the wastewater treatment area. We have compiled a list of high-risk airborne ARGs found in pharmaceutical factories. Moreover, A total of 1,043 viral operational taxonomic units were identified and linked to 47 family-group taxa. Different CRISPR-Cas immune systems have been identified in bacterial hosts in response to phage infection. Similarly, higher phage abundance (average: 2451.70 PPM) was found in the air of the wastewater treatment area. Our data provide insights into the antibiotic resistance gene profiles and microbiome (bacterial and non-bacterial) in pharmaceutical factories and reveal the potential role of horizontal transfer in the spread of airborne ARGs, with implications for human and animal health.
抗微生物药物耐药性被认为是最大的公共卫生问题之一，而空气传播是环境中抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）传播的一个重要但未被充分认识的途径。先前的研究表明，制药厂是周围受纳水体和土壤环境中 ARGs 和抗生素耐药细菌（ARB）的主要来源。制药厂是抗生素耐药的热点，但大气传输及其环境风险仍然更令人关注。在这里，我们对中国的三家制药厂的空气微生物组和抗药组进行了宏基因组调查。土壤（平均：38.45%）和废水（平均：28.53%）是空气抗药组的主要来源。在空气样本中鉴定出了赋予对临床上重要的抗生素耐药性的 ARGs（vanR/vanS、bla 和 CfxA）。废水处理区的 ARGs 相对丰度显著更高（平均：0.64 个拷贝/16S rRNA）。大约 28.2%的检测到的空气 ARGs 与质粒有关，在废水处理区这一比例增加到约 50%。我们已经编制了一份制药厂中发现的高风险空气传播 ARGs 清单。此外，共鉴定出 1043 个病毒操作分类单元，并与 47 个科群分类单元相关联。不同的 CRISPR-Cas 免疫系统已在细菌宿主中被识别，以应对噬菌体感染。同样，在废水处理区的空气中发现了更高的噬菌体丰度（平均：2451.70 PPM）。我们的数据提供了制药厂中抗生素耐药基因谱和微生物组（细菌和非细菌）的见解，并揭示了水平转移在空气传播 ARGs 传播中的潜在作用，对人类和动物健康有影响。
