Eco-Environment & Health
·
2023
·
IF 0
Lijuan Liu,Yuanze Sun,Shaoting Du,Yanming Li,Jie Wang
The wide application of plastics has led to the ubiquitous presence of nanoplastics and microplastics in terrestrial environments. However, few studies have focused on the mechanism underlying the effects of plastic particles on soil microbiomes and resistomes, especially the differences between nanoplastics and microplastics. This study investigated the microbiome and resistome in soil exposed to polystyrene microplastics (mPS) or nanoplastics (nPS) through 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Distinct microbial communities were observed between mPS and nPS exposure groups, and nPS exposure significantly changed the bacterial composition even at the lowest amended rate (0.01%, w/w). The abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in nPS exposure (1%) was 0.26 copies per cell, significantly higher than that in control (0.21 copies per cell) and mPS exposure groups (0.21 copies per cell). It was observed that nanoplastics, bacterial community, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) directly affected the ARG abundance in nPS exposure groups, while in mPS exposure groups, only MGEs directly induced the change of ARGs. Streptomyces was the predominant host for multidrug in the control and mPS exposure, whereas the primary host was changed to Bacillus in nPS exposure. Additionally, exposure to nPS induced several bacterial hosts to exhibit possible multi-antibiotic resistance characteristics. Our results indicated that the effects of plastic particles on the soil microbial community were size-dependent, and nano-sized plastic particles exhibited more substantial impacts. Both microplastics and nanoplastics promoted ARG transfer and diversified their bacterial hosts. These findings bear implications for the regulation of plastic waste and ARGs.
研究领域:
环境科学
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微生物学
·
基因组学
✓ 已验证
DOI
Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
·
2024
·Vol. 2024
·期 1
·7063673
·
IF 3.5
Yuqian Jia,Zhiwan Zheng,Bingqing Yang,Haijie Zhang,Zhiqiang Wang,Yuan Liu
The dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) severely degrades the performance of antibiotics and constantly paralyzes the global health system. In particular, plasmid-mediated transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across bacteria is recognized as the primary driver. Therefore, antiplasmid transfer approaches are urgently warranted to resolve this intractable problem. Herein, we demonstrated the potential of azidothymidine (AZT), an FDA-approved anti-HIV drug, as a broad-spectrum horizontal transfer inhibitor to effectively prevent the transmission of multiple ARGs, including mcr-1 , bla NDM−5 , and tet (X4), both in vitro and in vivo . It was also noteworthy that the inhibitory effect of AZT was proved to be valid within and across bacterial genera under different mating conditions. Mechanistic studies revealed that AZT dissipated bacterial proton motive force, which was indispensable for ATP synthesis and flagellar motility. In addition, AZT downregulated bacterial secretion systems involving general and type IV secretion systems (T4SS). Furthermore, the thymidine kinase, which is associated with DNA synthesis, turned out to be the potential target of AZT. Collectively, our work demonstrates the broad inhibitory effect of AZT in preventing ARGs transmission, opening new horizons for controlling AMR.
研究领域:
微生物学
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药理学
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传染病学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
·
2024
·
IF 9.7
Qingyang Jiang,Leiyu Feng,Jingyang Luo,Yang Wu,Haiqing Dong,Ahmed M. Mustafa,Yu Su,Yuxiao Zhao,Yinguang Chen
The impact and mechanism of fluoranthene (Flr), a typical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon highly detected in sludge, on alkaline fermentation for volatile fatty acids (VFAs) recovery and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) transfer were studied. The results demonstrated that VFAs production increased from 2189 to 4272 mg COD/L with a simultaneous reduction of ARGs with Flr. The hydrolytic enzymes and genes related to glucose and amino acid metabolism were provoked. Also, Flr benefited for the enrichment of hydrolytic-acidifying consortia ( i.e. , Parabacteroides and Alkalibaculum ) while reduced VFAs consumers ( i.e. , Rubrivivax ) and ARGs potential hosts ( i.e. , Rubrivivax and Pseudomonas ). Metagenomic analysis indicated that the genes related to cell wall synthesis, biofilm formation and substrate transporters to maintain high VFAs-producer activities were upregulated. Moreover, cell functions of efflux pump and Type IV secretion system were suppressed to inhibit ARGs proliferation. This study provided intrinsic mechanisms of Flr-induced VFAs promotion and ARGs reduction during alkaline fermentation.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
·
2023
·
IF 13.6
Jianhong Shi,Baoyi Lv,Binghan Wang,Bing Xie
Microplastic (MP) biofilms are hotspots of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in landfill environment. MP biofilms in landfill leachate coexist with heavy metals and metallic nanoparticles (NPs) that considered to be the selective agents of ARGs. However, the effects of these selective pressures on ARGs in MP biofilms and their differences in MP-surrounding leachate have not been well understood. Herein, the changes of ARG abundances in MP biofilms and corresponding leachate under zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs and zinc ion (Zn 2+ ) pressures were comparatively analyzed. The presence of ZnO NPs and Zn 2+ promoted the enrichment of ARGs in MP biofilms, and the enrichment was more pronounced in ZnO NPs groups. ZnO NPs and especially Zn 2+ mainly decreased the abundances of ARGs in leachate. The increase of integron abundances and reactive oxygen species production in MP biofilms implied the enhanced potential for horizontal transfer of ARGs under ZnO NPs and Zn 2+ pressures. Meanwhile, the co-occurrence pattern between ARGs and bacterial genera in MP biofilms with more diverse potential ARG hosts was more complex than in leachate, and the enrichment of ARG-hosting bacteria in MP biofilms under ZnO NPs and Zn 2+ pressures supported the enrichment of ARGs.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
·
毒理学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
·
2025
·
IF 8.4
Zhixiang Xu,Caiqing Li,Jinrui Xiong,Siyuan Hu,Yitao Ma,Siyuan Li,Xiaomin Ren,Bin Huang,Xuejun Pan
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have become a major focus in environmental safety and human health, with concerns about non-antibiotic substances like microplastics facilitating their horizontal gene transfer. Phthalate esters (PAEs), as ubiquitous plastic additives, are prevalent in aquatic environments, yet there remains a dearth of studies examining their impacts on ARG dissemination. This study focuses on dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a prototypical PAE, to assess its potential influence on the conjugative transfer of ARGs along with the related molecular mechanisms. The results revealed that DBP exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations significantly promoted the conjugative transfer of RP4 plasmid-mediated ARGs by up to 2.7-fold compared to that of the control group, whereas it severely suppressed the conjugation at a high concentration (100 μg/L). The promotion of conjugation transfer by low-concentration DBP (0.01–10 μg/L) was mainly attributed to the stimulation of ROS, enhanced membrane permeability, increased energy synthesis, increased polymeric substances secretion, and upregulation of conjugation-related genes. Conversely, high DBP exposure induced oxidative damage and reduced ATP synthesis, resulting in the suppression of ARG conjugation. Notably, donor and recipient bacteria responded differently to DBP-induced oxidative stress. This study explores the environmental behavior of DBP in the water environment from the perspective of ARG propagation and provides essential data and theoretical insights to raise public awareness about the ecological security risks of PAEs.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
·
生态毒理学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
·
2025
·
IF 9.7
Qiu E. Yang,Zhenyan Lin,Dehao Gan,Minchun Li,Xuedan Liu,Shungui Zhou,Timothy R. Walsh
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and environmental degradation are existential global public health threats. Linking microplastics (MPs) and AMR is particularly concerning as MPs pollution would have significant ramifications on controlling of AMR; however, the effects of MPs on the spread and genetic mechanisms of AMR bacteria remain unclear. Herein, we performed Simonsen end-point conjugation to investigate the impact of four commonly used MPs on transfer of clinically relevant plasmids. The transfer breadth of a representative pA/C_MCR-8 plasmid across bacterial communities was confirmed by the cell sorting and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Our study shows that exposure to four commonly found MPs promotes the conjugation rates of four clinically relevant AMR plasmids by up to 200-fold, when compared to the non-exposed group and that the transfer rates are MP concentrations demonstrate a positive correlation with higher transfer rates. Furthermore, we show that MPs induce the expression of plasmid-borne conjugal genes and SOS-linked genes such as recA , lexA , dinB and dinD . High-throughput sequencing of the broad transmission of plasmid pA/C_MCR-8, shows distribution over two main phyla, Pseudomonadota (50.0 %-95.0 %) and Bacillota (0.4 %-2.0 %). These findings definitively link two global health emergencies − AMR and environmental degradation via MPs, and to tackle global AMR, we must also now consider plastic utilisation and waste management.
研究领域:
微生物学
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环境科学
·
公共健康
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
·
2024
·
IF 12.2
Yu-E Gao,Qing Huang,Yue Huang,Li-Xia Yan,Wen-Long Wang,WenFeng Zhao,Yong-Wei Feng,Xiao-Dong Huang,Yi Zhang
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are markers of drug-resistant pathogens, monitoring them contribute to prevent resistance to drugs. The detection methods for ARGs including PCR and isothermal amplification are sensitive and selective. However, it may take several hours or cannot be used on spot. Here, a detection method was developed based on a novel nanoparticle-mediated light-driven (LD) loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) combining with test strips, and a commonly found methicillin-resistant gene mecA was analyzed to verify the method. Under laser irradiation, gold nanoparticles produced localized surface plasmon resonance. Therefore, they provided both light-induced electrons and localized heat, the former acted as the catalyst of LD-LAMP and the latter as the energy supply. The mecA was amplified, producing numerous double-labeled amplicons. The LD-LAMP was three times as efficient as metal-bathed LAMP. A visual test strip (TS) was designed based on sandwich lateral flow chromatography, reading a LAMP result within 5~10 min. The method has a detection limit of 13.8 copies/μL, with a linear range of 13.8 copies/μL~1.38×10 7 copies/μL. The LD-LAMP TS was applied to the on-site detection of mecA in milk samples. The results were consistent with qPCR, and total detection time reduced from 1 h by qPCR to 20~25 min by LD-LAMP TS.
研究领域:
分子生物学
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病原微生物学
·
分析化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
·
2020
·
IF 6.551
Ligui Wu,Xiaoyu Xiao,Fen Chen,Huan Zhang,Liangliang Huang,Lingling Rong,Xiaoming Zou
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been widely detected around the world and are generally viewed as emerging pollutants with environmental persistence. The proliferation of ARGs can be easily promoted by antibiotics. However, the dynamics of ARGs in the environment are still unable to be quantified using a single parameter, which is vital to evaluating the ability of ARGs to spread by antibiotics and effectively controlling ARGs. A new parameter, termed the relative area ratio of sample to control (Δ A R ), was developed based on the quantitative features determined by ARG-time curves in soils contaminated with sulfonamides (SAs) and verified by quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) models. The results showed that Δ A R can not only be used to accurately quantify the characteristics of SAs resistance genes ( Suls ) over time but also be applied to reveal the relationships between the proliferation of Suls and important factors (i.e., concentrations and chemical structures). Moreover, the Δ A R -based QSARs model indicated that bioavailability and the frequency of conjugative transfer, rather than the ability of induced mutations in bacteria, tend to be key processes of the characteristics of the proliferation of Suls . Therefore, Δ A R is a useful parameter to perform environmental risk assessments of ARG proliferation in the environment.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
·
2021
·
IF 10.588
Peng Zhang,Guanghua Lu,Yu Sun,Zhenhua Yan,Tianjian Dang,Jianchao Liu
The aging process changes the physicochemical structure of microplastics and affects environmental behaviors and toxicological effects of coexisting pollutants, thereby posing ecological risks. In this study, the effects of aged polystyrene microplastics alone or in combination with the 100 μg/L roxithromycin (ROX) on intestines of Carassius auratus were investigated. The carrier effect of microplastics was enhanced by aging due to changes in functional groups and surface area, which led to an increase in the bioaccumulation of ROX. The combined exposure of aged microplastics (APS) and ROX caused more inflammatory cell infiltration and cilia defects, and significantly inhibited the activity of amylase and lipase. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that the combined exposure of microplastics and ROX increased the abundance of Gemmobacter , Bosea , Rhizobium , and Shinella and decreased the abundance of Cetobacterium and Akkermansia ( p < 0.05). The presence of APS enhanced the selective enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes. What's more, the influence of microplastics and antibiotics on gut microbiota was closely related to carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid metabolism activities, as well as the abundance of baca and sul1 resistance genes. These results expand our understanding of the interaction mechanism between APS and antibiotics in real aquatic environment.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
·
毒理学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
·
2021
·
IF 9.642
Yu-Xi Gao,Xing Li,Jun-Ru Zhao,Zhong-Xing Zhang,Xiao-Yan Fan
This study aimed to investigate the short-term response of abundant-rare genera and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to azithromycin (AZM, 0.05–40 mg/L) and copper (1 mg/L) combined pollution in activated sludge nitrification system at low temperature. Nitrification was as expected inhibited in stress- and post-effects periods under AZM concentration higher than 5 mg/L. Abundant and rare taxa presented dissimilar responses based on full-scale classification. Conditionally rare or abundant taxa (CRAT) were keystone taxa. Relative abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea increased, and three aerobic denitrifying bacteria ( Brevundimonas , Comamonas and Trichococcus ) were enriched (from 9.83% to 68.91% in total). Ammonia nitrogen assimilating into Org-N and denitrification may be nitrogen pathways based on predict analysis. 29 ARGs were found with more co-occurrence patterns and high concentration of AZM (greater than 5 mg/L) caused their proliferation. Importantly, expect for some abundant taxa, rare taxa, potential pathogens and nitrogen-removal functional genera were the main potential hosts of ARGs.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
·
生态学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ACS Nano
·
2023
·
IF 17.1
Hai Liu,Wei Huang,Yang Yu,Da Chen
Conventional oxidative disinfection methods are usually inefficient to eliminate intracellular antibiotic resistance genes (i-ARGs) due to competitive oxidation of cellular components of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), resulting in the ubiquitous occurrence of ARGs in drinking water systems. Herein, we developed the strategy of coupling electroporation and electrochemical oxidation on a Co3O4-nanowires-modified electrode to destroy the multiresistant Escherichia coli cells and promote subsequent i-ARG (blaTEM-1 and aac(3)-II) degradation. The lightning-rod effect over nanowire tips can form finite regions with a locally enhanced electric field and highly concentrated charge density, in turn facilitating the electroporation for ARB cell damage and electrochemical reactivity for reactive chlorine/oxygen species generation. Characterization of the ARB membrane integrity and morphology revealed that electroporation-induced cell pores were further enlarged by the oxidation of reactive species, resulting in i-ARG removal at lower applied voltages and with 6–9 times lower energy consumption than the conventional electrochemical oxidation approach with a Co3O4-film-modified electrode. The satisfactory application and effective inhibition of horizontal gene transfer in tap water further demonstrated the great potential of our strategy in the control of the ARG dissemination risk in drinking water systems.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
·
水处理工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Journal of Water Process Engineering
·
2023
·
IF 7
Yajun Tian,Xiaohong Wang,Yifan Liang,Benhang Li,Yongze Liu,Li Feng,Jun Li,Liqiu Zhang
The extensive use of antibiotics leads to their frequent detection in the environment, posing potential threats to public health. Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been widely applied in wastewater treatment and can efficiently remove antibiotics. However, the removal of antibiotics in the CWs is still in a “black box”, and the information about the potential risks of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) occurrence in CWs is limited. In the present study, the removal of oxytetracycline (OTC) and sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), as well ARGs occurrence in vertical down-up flow constructed wetlands (VDUF-CWs) were assessed. The results indicated that VDUF-CWs exhibited great removal efficiency for OTC (84.3 ± 3.5 %) and SMZ (77.7 ± 3.9 %). Based on conservation of mass, the contributions of different removal pathways (i.e., microbial degradation , plant absorption, photodegradation , and substrate adsorption) to antibiotic removal were calculated. Of which, microbial degradation was found to be the dominant route in removing OTC and SMZ with the contribution of 58.52 ± 2.34 % and 65.13 ± 3.72 % respectively, followed by photodegradation (18.47 ± 3.04 % and 8.22 ± 3.94 %), plant absorption (9.01 ± 1.28 % and 7.75 ± 4.07 %) and substrate adsorption (2.08 ± 0.03 % and 1.73 ± 0.02 %). Notably, tetA , tetC , tetW , sulI , and sulII genes were detected in layer samples, and the relative abundances of the sul and tet genes were boosted with the extension of operation days, indicating that VDUF-CWs allow a risk of ARGs spread and threatening public health. The present study provided a deeper insight into the mechanism of antibiotic removal in CWs, but further explorations are required to develop the effective control strategies for eliminating ARGs from CWs.
研究领域:
环境科学
·
微生物学
·
公共卫生
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子