Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ju, Feng
• Li, Bing
• Ma, Liping
• Wang, Yubo
• Huang, Danping
• Zhang, Tong

Titel

Antibiotic resistance genes and human bacterial pathogens: Co-occurrence, removal, and enrichment in municipal sewage sludge digesters

Ist Teil von

• Water research (Oxford), 2016-03, Vol.91, p.1-10

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Understanding which/how antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) contribute to increased acquisition of resistance by pathogens in aquatic environments are challenges of profound significance. We explored the co-occurrence and removal versus enrichment of ARGs and human bacterial pathogens (HBPs) in municipal sewage sludge digesters. We combined metagenomic detection of a wide spectrum of 323 ARGs and 83 HBPs with a correlation-based statistical approach and charted a network of their co-occurrence relationships. The results indicate that most ARGs and a minor proportion of HBPs (mainly Collinsella aerofaciens, Streptococcus salivarius and Gordonia bronchialis) could not be removed by anaerobic digestion, revealing a biological risk of post-digestion sludge in disseminating antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity. Moreover, preferential co-occurrence patterns were evident within one ARG type (e.g., multidrug, beta-lactam, and aminoglycoside) and between two different ARG types (i.e., aminoglycoside and beta-lactam), possibly implicating co-effects of antibiotic selection pressure and co-resistance on shaping antibiotic resistome in sewage sludge. Unlike beta-lactam resistance genes, ARGs of multidrug and macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin tended to co-occur more with HBPs. Strikingly, we presented evidence that the most straightforward biological origin of an ARG-species co-occurring event is a hosting relationship. Furthermore, a significant and robust HBP-species co-occurrence correlation provides a proper scenario for nominating HBP indicators (e.g., Bifidobacterium spp. are perfect indicators of C. aerofaciens; r = 0.92–0.99 and P-values < 0.01). Combined, this study demonstrates a creative and effective network-based metagenomic approach for exploring ARG hosts and HBP indicators and assessing ARGs acquisition by HBPs in human-impacted environments where ARGs and HBPs may co-thrive. [Display omitted] •323 ARGs and 83 human bacterial pathogens (HBPs) were detected in sewage sludge.•Anaerobic digesters removed 70–95% of HBPs but only 20–52% of ARGs in sewage sludge.•Preferential co-occurrence was evident within ARGs and between ARGs and HBPs.•ARG-species and HBP-species co-occurrence discloses ARG hosts or HBP indicators.•Network-based metagenomics is effective in mining meaningful ARG-HBP associations.