scholarly journals Distribution and Influence on the Microbial Ecological Relationship of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Soil at a Watershed Scale

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9748
Author(s):  
Yi-Long Hao ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Zu-Fei Xiao ◽  
Ning Liu ◽  
Muhammad Azeem ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Resistance Genes ◽  
Toxic Metals ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Macro Scale ◽  
Ecological Relationship

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are ubiquitous in the environment, with previous studies mainly focusing on the terrestrial ecosystem, which is prone to higher antibiotic application. However, the characteristics, distribution pattern, and driving factors of soil ARGs at the macro scale are still unclear. In this study, the soil ARGs, antibiotics, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), soil properties, toxic metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and bacterial community in the Taipu River Basin were analyzed to investigate the distribution and dissemination of ARGs at a watershed scale. The results revealed that ARGs were widespread in the soils along the Taipu River, and that ARG profiles varied greatly with different types of land use, but showed regional similarities. The characteristics were mainly determined by antibiotic input and the ARG transmission mediated by MGEs. The order of the contribution of environmental factors to ARG distribution was toxic metals > PAHs > soil properties. Toxic metal pollution was coupled with ARGs through MGE mediation, while PAHs and soil properties were most likely to affect the ARG distribution by shifting the bacterial community. The microbial–ecological relationship changed significantly with the enrichment of ARGs, and its impact may extend to the watershed scale. Transposon IS1247 can be used as an indicator of the ARGs impact on the microbial ecological relationship in the soils of the Taipu River Basin.

scholarly journals Analysis of Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Environmental Factors, and Microbial Community From Aquaculture Farms in Five Provinces, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Cheng ◽  
Yitong Lu ◽  
Yanzhen Song ◽  
Ruifang Zhang ◽  
Xinyan ShangGuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Correlation Analysis ◽  
Resistance Genes ◽  
Environmental Risk ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Sediment Samples ◽  
Positive Correlation

The excessive use of antibiotics speeds up the dissemination and aggregation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. The ARGs have been regarded as a contaminant of serious environmental threats on a global scale. The constant increase in aquaculture production has led to extensive use of antibiotics as a means to prevent and treat bacterial infections; there is a universal concern about the environmental risk of ARGs in the aquaculture environment. In this study, a survey was conducted to evaluate the abundance and distributions of 10 ARGs, bacterial community, and environmental factors in sediment samples from aquatic farms distributed in Anhui (AP1, AP2, and AP3), Fujian (FP1, FP2, and FP3), Guangxi (GP1, GP2, and GP3), Hainan (HP1, HP2, and HP3), and Shaanxi (SP1, SP2, and SP3) Province in China. The results showed that the relative abundance of total ARGs was higher in AP1, AP2, AP3, FP3, GP3, HP1, HP2, and HP3 than that in FP1, FP2, GP1, GP2, SP1, SP2, and SP3. The sul1 and tetW genes of all sediment samples had the highest abundance. The class 1 integron (intl1) was detected in all samples, and the result of Pearson correlation analysis showed that the intl1 has a positive correlation with the sul1, sul2, sul3, blaOXA, qnrS, tetM, tetQ, and tetW genes. Correlation analysis of the bacterial community diversity and environmental factors showed that the Ca2+ concentration has a negative correlation with richness and diversity of the bacterial community in these samples. Of the identified bacterial community, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidota were the predominant phyla in these samples. Redundancy analysis showed that environmental factors (TN, TP, Cl–, and Ca2+) have a positive correlation with the bacterial community (AP1, GP1, GP2, GP3, SP1, SP2, and SP3), and the abundance of ARGs (sul1, tetW, qnrS, and intl1) has a positive correlation with the bacterial community (AP2, AP3, HP1, HP2, and HP3). Based on the network analysis, the ARGs (sul1, sul2, blaCMY, blaOXA, qnrS, tetW, tetQ, tetM, and intl1) were found to co-occur with bacterial taxa from the phyla Chloroflexi, Euryarchaeota, Firmicutes, Halobacterota, and Proteobacteria. In conclusion, this study provides an important reference for understanding the environmental risk associated with aquaculture activities in China.

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