Clinical class 1 integron-integrase gene – A promising indicator to monitor the abundance and elimination of antibiotic resistance genes in an urban wastewater treatment plant

Effluents from wastewater treatment plants has been identified as a main point-source of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in natural water environments. In this study, a typical municipal sewage treatment system in south China was taken as the research object to investigate the effects of each treatment unit on eight target antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, sulfamethazine, tetracycline hydrochloride, oxytetracycline dihydrate, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, clarithromycin, roxithromycin), 17 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and class 1 integron genes in the system using Accelerated Solvent Extraction-Solid phase extraction-Ultra high Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem mass spectrometry (ASE-SPE-UPLC-MS/MS) and real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qPCR) and the correlation between them. Seven antibiotics (mainly sulfonamides and tetracyclines, 4.19–141.97 ng·L−1) were detected in the influent, while only sulfamethoxazole, sulfamethazine, ofloxacin, and clarithromycin were detected in the effluent (3.11–16.61 ng·L−1). The tetracycline antibiotics in the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) were transferred to the sludge phase by adsorption, in which tetracycline hydrochloride and oxytetracycline dihydrate were mostly removed in the aerobic and anaerobic stages, while sulfamethoxazole was mainly removed through biological transformation. Sul I was the most abundant resistance gene, but the WWTP had no obvious effect on its removal. Anaerobic treatment was found to play an important role in tetA, tetQ, and tetX removal. Moreover, correlation analysis revealed that the relative abundance of tetX was significantly correlated with clarithromycin (p = 0.039) and ofloxacin (p = 0.028), while that of tetQ was significantly correlated with sulfamethazine (p = 0.007) and sulfamethoxazole (p = 0.001), and that of tetC was significantly correlated with the class 1 integron gene (p = 0.014). Overall, the results presented herein provide a reference for improving the antibiotics and ARGs removal efficiency of WWTPs in south China.

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Neighbor urban wastewater treatment plants display distinct profiles of bacterial community and antibiotic resistance genes

Environmental Science and Pollution Research ◽

10.1007/s11356-019-04546-y ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (11) ◽

pp. 11269-11278 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Telma Fernandes ◽

Ivone Vaz-Moreira ◽

Célia M. Manaia

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Bacterial Community ◽

Resistance Genes ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽

Urban Wastewater ◽

Urban Wastewater Treatment

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Identification and antibiotic resistance profiling of bacterial isolates from septicaemic soft-shelled turtles (Pelodiscus sinensis)

Veterinární Medicína ◽

10.17221/65/2016-vetmed ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 62 (No. 3) ◽

pp. 169-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

TH Chung ◽

SW Yi ◽

BS Kim ◽

WI Kim ◽

GW Shin

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Resistance Genes ◽

Present Report ◽

Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽

Tetracycline Resistance ◽

Edwardsiella Tarda ◽

Pelodiscus Sinensis ◽

Class 1 Integron ◽

Class 1 ◽

M 14

The present study sought to identify pathogens associated with septicaemia in the Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) and to characterise antibiotic resistance in these pathogens. Twenty-three isolates recovered from the livers of diseased soft-shelled turtles were genetically identified as Aeromonas hydrophila (n = 8), A. veronii (n = 3), Citrobacter freundii (n = 4), Morganella morganii (n = 3), Edwardsiella tarda (n = 2), Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica (n = 1), Chryseobacterium sp. (n = 1), and Comamonas sp. (n = 1). Most isolates (n = 21) were resistant to ampicillin whereas a low percentage of isolates was susceptible to aminoglycosides (amikacin, gentamicin, and tobramycin). PCR assays and sequence analysis revealed the presence of the qnrS2 and blaTEM antibiotic resistance genes in all isolates. The blaDHA-1, blaCTX-M-14 and blaCMY-2 genes were harboured by 17.4% (n = 4), 13.5% (n = 3) and 8.7% (n = 2) of the strains, respectively. One or more tetracycline resistance genes were detected in 60.9% (n = 14) of the isolates. Four isolates (17.4%) harboured single or multiple class 1 integron cassettes. Collectively, a variety of bacterial pathogens were involved in the occurrence of septicaemia in Chinese soft-shelled turtles and most of the isolates had multi-antibiotic resistant phenotypes. To our knowledge, the present report is the first to identify W. chitiniclastica and Comamonas sp. as causes of septicaemia in soft-shelled turtles and the first to identify Aeromonas spp. with blaCTX-M-14 and blaDHA-1 resistance genes.

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Metagenomic Community Composition and Resistome Analysis in a Full-scale Cold Climate Wastewater Treatment Plant

10.21203/rs.3.rs-961566/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Miguel Uyaguari

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Activated Sludge ◽

Relative Abundance ◽

Resistance Genes ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽

Gene Copies ◽

Final Effluent

Abstract Background: Wastewater treatment plants are an essential part of maintaining the health and safety of the general public. However, they are also an anthropogenic source of antibiotic resistance genes. In this study, we characterized the resistome, the distribution of classes 1-3 integron-integrase genes (intI1, intI2, and intI3) as mobile genetic element biomarkers, and the bacterial and phage community compositions in the North End Sewage Treatment Plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Samples were collected from raw sewage, returned activated sludge, final effluent, and dewatered sludge. A total of 28 bacterial and viral metagenomes were sequenced over two seasons, fall and winter. Integron-integrase genes, the 16S rRNA gene, and the coliform beta-glucuronidase gene were also quantified during this time period. Results: Bacterial classes observed above 1% relative abundance in all treatments were Actinobacteria (39.24% ± 0.25%), Beta-proteobacteria (23.99% ± 0.16%), Gamma-proteobacteria (11.06% ± 0.09%), and Alpha-proteobacteria (9.18 ± 0.04%). Families within the Caudovirales order: Siphoviridae (48.69% ± 0.10%), Podoviridae (23.99% ± 0.07%), and Myoviridae (19.94% ± 0.09%) were the dominant phage observed throughout the NESTP. The most abundant bacterial genera (in terms of average percent relative abundance) in influent, returned activated sludge, final effluent, and sludge, respectively, includes Mycobacterium (37.4%, 18.3%, 46.1%, and 7.7%), Acidovorax (8.9%, 10.8%, 5.4%, and 1.3%), and Polaromonas (2.5%, 3.3%, 1.4%, and 0.4%).The most abundant class of antibiotic resistance in bacterial samples was tetracycline resistance (17.86% ± 0.03%) followed by peptide antibiotics (14.24% ± 0.03%), and macrolides (10.63% ± 0.02%). Similarly, the phage samples contained a higher prevalence of macrolide (30.12% ± 0.30%), peptide antibiotic (10.78% ± 0.13%), and tetracycline (8.69% ± 0.11%) resistance. In addition, intI1 was the most abundant integron-integrase gene throughout treatment (1.14x104 gene copies/mL) followed by intI3 (4.97x103 gene copies/mL) while intI2 abundance remained low (6.4x101 gene copies/mL).Conclusions: The wastewater treatment plant successfully reduced the abundance of bacteria, DNA bacteriophages, and antibiotic resistance genes although many of them still remained in effluent and biosolids. The presence of integron-integrase genes throughout treatment and in effluent suggests that antibiotic resistance genes could be actively disseminating resistance between both environmental and pathogenic bacteria.

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Accumulation and expression of multiple antibiotic resistance genes in Arcobacter cryaerophilus that thrives in sewage

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.3269 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. e3269 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Jess A. Millar ◽

Rahul Raghavan

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Resistance Genes ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽

Environmental Water ◽

Multidrug Resistant ◽

Municipal Sewage ◽

Animal Origin ◽

Resistant Bacteria

We explored the bacterial diversity of untreated sewage influent samples of a wastewater treatment plant in Tucson, AZ and discovered that Arcobacter cryaerophilus, an emerging human pathogen of animal origin, was the most dominant bacterium. The other highly prevalent bacteria were members of the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, which are major constituents of human gut microbiome, indicating that bacteria of human and animal origin intermingle in sewage. By assembling a near-complete genome of A. cryaerophilus, we show that the bacterium has accumulated a large number of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) probably enabling it to thrive in the wastewater. We also determined that a majority of ARGs was being expressed in sewage, suggestive of trace levels of antibiotics or other stresses that could act as a selective force that amplifies multidrug resistant bacteria in municipal sewage. Because all bacteria are not eliminated even after several rounds of wastewater treatment, ARGs in sewage could affect public health due to their potential to contaminate environmental water.

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blaTEM and vanA as indicator genes of antibiotic resistance contamination in a hospital–urban wastewater treatment plant system

Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance ◽

10.1016/j.jgar.2014.10.001 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 309-315 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Carlos Narciso-da-Rocha ◽

Ana R. Varela ◽

Thomas Schwartz ◽

Olga C. Nunes ◽

Célia M. Manaia

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Urban Wastewater ◽

Plant System ◽

Urban Wastewater Treatment

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The Occurrence of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in an Urban River in Nepal

Water ◽

10.3390/w12020450 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 450 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ocean Thakali ◽

Sarmila Tandukar ◽

John Brooks ◽

Samendra Sherchan ◽

Jeevan Sherchand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Resistance Genes ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽

Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽

Urban River ◽

Class 1 Integron ◽

Upstream Site ◽

Class 1 ◽

The Impact

Urban rivers affected by anthropogenic activities can act as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). This study aimed to describe the occurrence of selected ARGs (blaTEM, ermF, mecA, and tetA) and a class 1 integron (intI1) in an urban river in Nepal. A total of 18 water samples were collected periodically from upstream, midstream, and downstream sites along the Bagmati River over a 1-year period. All ARGs except mecA and intI1 were consistently detected by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction in the midstream and downstream sites, with concentrations ranging from 3.1 to 7.8 log copies/mL. ARG abundance was significantly lower at the upstream site (p < 0.05), reflecting the impact of anthropogenic activities on increasing concentrations of ARGs at midstream and downstream sites. Our findings demonstrate the presence of clinically relevant ARGs in the urban river water of Nepal, suggesting a need for mitigating strategies to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.

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