Yang Juan, Wang Le, Liang Qian, Wang Yang, Yang Xiaorong, Wu Xianping, Pei Xiaofang
West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Renmin Nan Road, Chengdu, 610042, PR China.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Sichuan Province, 6 Zhongxue Road, Chengdu, 610041, PR China.
BMC Microbiol. 2025 Jul 3;25(1):406. doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-04115-z.
Antibiotic resistance has become a serious challenge to global public health. The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) among humans, animals, and the environment has become a critical issue within the “One Health” framework. Chinese wet market with live poultry trade provides an interface for close interaction between humans and chickens, and is considered as potential source for disease dissemination. However, the understanding of ARGs in this kind of market, including their shared profiles, influencing factors, and potential horizontal transfer subtypes and directions, remains limited.
In this study, we explored the microbiome, resistome, and mobility of ARGs, and identified putative horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events in the Chinese wet market system by utilizing metagenomic assembly and binning. Consequently, a total of 1080 ARG subtypes were identified from 36 metagenomes, and 221 subtypes were shared among human feces, chicken feces, chicken carcasses, and the environment. The composition of ARGs was influenced by mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and bacterial communities. As for the host of ARGs, 89 ARG-carrying genomes (ACGs) were identified, with 18 of them carrying multiple ARGs and MGEs, indicating the potential mobility of ARGs. Notably, six ACGs were identified as opportunistic pathogens carrying multiple ARGs and MGEs, which were annotated as ,,,, and . In addition, 164 potential HGT events were identified based on ACGs, and , ,, and were annotated as potentially transferred ARG subtypes in humans and the wet market.
This study offers new insights into the potential for HGT of ARGs within a Chinese wet market setting, highlighting putative transmission patterns among humans, poultry, and the environment. To our knowledge, few studies have explored ARG transfer potential in this context using metagenome-assembled genomes, making this a valuable contribution to One Health surveillance.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12866-025-04115-z.
抗生素耐药性已成为全球公共卫生面临的严峻挑战。抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）在人类、动物和环境之间的传播已成为“同一健康”框架内的关键问题。有活禽交易的中国湿货市场为人与鸡之间的密切互动提供了一个界面，被认为是疾病传播的潜在源头。然而，对于这类市场中ARGs的了解，包括它们的共享特征、影响因素以及潜在的水平转移亚型和方向，仍然有限。
在本研究中，我们通过利用宏基因组组装和分箱技术，探索了中国湿货市场系统中微生物群落、耐药组以及ARGs的移动性，并确定了推定的水平基因转移（HGT）事件。结果，从36个宏基因组中总共鉴定出1080个ARG亚型，其中221个亚型在人类粪便、鸡粪便、鸡尸体和环境中共享。ARGs的组成受移动遗传元件（MGEs）和细菌群落的影响。至于ARGs的宿主，鉴定出89个携带ARG的基因组（ACGs），其中18个携带多个ARGs和MGEs，表明ARGs具有潜在的移动性。值得注意的是，六个ACGs被鉴定为携带多个ARGs和MGEs的机会性病原体，它们被注释为 、、、、和 。此外，基于ACGs鉴定出164个潜在的HGT事件，并且 、、 和 被注释为人类和湿货市场中潜在转移的ARG亚型。
本研究为中国湿货市场环境中ARGs的水平基因转移潜力提供了新的见解，突出了人类、家禽和环境之间推定的传播模式。据我们所知，很少有研究在这种背景下使用宏基因组组装基因组来探索ARG转移潜力，因此本研究对“同一健康”监测具有重要价值。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s12866-025-04115-z获取的补充材料。
