Zou Hai-Yan, Gao Fang-Zhou, He Liang-Ying, Zhang Min, Liu You-Sheng, Qi Jun, Ying Guang-Guo
SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Theoretical Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China; School of Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Pearl River Water Resources Research Institute, Pearl River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, Guangzhou, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2025 Jan 1;289:117651. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.117651. Epub 2025 Jan 6.
Mining activities produce large quantities of tailings and acid mine drainage, which contain varieties of heavy metals, thereby affecting the downstream farmland soils and crops. Heavy metals could induce antibiotic resistance through co-selection pressure. However, the profiles of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the mining-affected farmland soils and crops are still unclear. Here we investigated contents of heavy metals, ARG abundances, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and microbial community in mining-affected farmland soils and vegetables from Shangba village (SB), in comparison to a nearby reference village Taiping (TP). Results showed that in SB group, except for Cr, other metals were all above the Chinese Standards. When compared with the reference group, higher ARG abundances were detected in mining-affected farmland soils and vegetables, with great proportions of genes resistant to sulfonamides, chloramphenicols and tetracyclines. In addition, positive correlations were found between the above three ARG classes and heavy metals concentrations (especially Cu, Pb and Zn). Spearman's correlations revealed that there were positive correlations between sul1 and total nitrogen, as well as tetB/P and pH. Additionally, the Shannon index values were different for the samples from two villages (p < 0.05). Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were dominant phyla in soil samples. Network analysis suggested that multiple genera (belonging to Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria) were positively associated with many ARGs (p < 0.05), implying they might be potential hosts for ARGs. To sum up, this study provided clear evidence that mining activities caused severe heavy metals pollution to the farmland, thus posing co-selection pressure on the persistence of ARGs in the affected farmland environments.
采矿活动产生大量尾矿和酸性矿山废水，其中含有多种重金属，从而影响下游农田土壤和农作物。重金属可通过共选择压力诱导抗生素抗性。然而，受采矿影响的农田土壤和农作物中抗生素抗性基因（ARGs）的概况仍不清楚。在此，我们调查了受采矿影响的上坝村（SB）农田土壤和蔬菜中重金属含量、ARGs丰度、可移动遗传元件（MGEs）和微生物群落，并与附近的太平村（TP）进行了比较。结果表明，在SB组中，除铬外，其他金属含量均高于中国标准。与参照组相比，受采矿影响的农田土壤和蔬菜中检测到更高的ARGs丰度，其中对磺胺类、氯霉素类和四环素类耐药的基因比例很高。此外，上述三类ARGs与重金属浓度（尤其是铜、铅和锌）之间存在正相关。Spearman相关性分析表明，sul1与总氮以及tetB/P与pH之间存在正相关。此外，两个村庄的样本的香农指数值不同（p<0.05）。变形菌门和放线菌门是土壤样本中的优势菌门。网络分析表明，多个属（属于变形菌门和放线菌门）与许多ARGs呈正相关（p<0.05），这意味着它们可能是ARGs的潜在宿主。综上所述，本研究提供了明确的证据，表明采矿活动对农田造成了严重的重金属污染，从而对受影响农田环境中ARGs的持久性构成共选择压力。
