Effects on microbiomes and resistomes and the source-specific ecological risks of heavy metals in the sediments of an urban river

Abstract

This study aims to better understand the effects of heavy metal enrichment on microbiomes and resistomes and the source-specific ecological risks of metals in the sediments of an urban river. Geo-accumulation index and enrichment factor suggested the river sediments were contaminated by Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in varying degrees. High-throughput sequencing-based metagenomics analysis identified 430 types of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), dominated by the multidrug, MLS, bacitracin, quinolone, and aminoglycoside ARGs, and 52 metal resistance genes (MRGs) mainly conferring resistance to zinc, copper, cadmium, lead, mercury and multiple metals. Spearman correlation analysis and Mantel test showed the heavy metal enrichment exerted significant effects on the microbial community, ARGs and MRGs. Source apportionment using positive matrix factorization revealed that natural source (42.8%) was the largest contributor of metals in the river sediments, followed by urban activities (35.4%) and a mixed source (21.7%). However, when incorporating the apportionment results into a modified risk model to evaluate the source-specific ecological risks, results showed human activities dominated the risks of metals. Comparatively, the urban activities majorly caused moderate- and considerable- ecological risks, while the mixed source with respect to agricultural and industrial activities contributed higher percentages on high- and extremely high- ecological risks.

Keywords: Heavy metals; Microbiomes; Resistomes; Source apportionment; Source-specific ecological risk.