Fecal pollution mediates the dominance of stochastic assembly of antibiotic resistome in an urban lagoon (Yundang lagoon), China

Liyuan Hou; Hongjie Wang; Qingfu Chen; Jian-Qiang Su; Mahmoud Gad; Jiangwei Li; Sikandar I Mulla; Chang-Ping Yu; Anyi Hu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126083

Fecal pollution mediates the dominance of stochastic assembly of antibiotic resistome in an urban lagoon (Yundang lagoon), China

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Sep 5:417:126083. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126083. Epub 2021 May 11.

Authors

Liyuan Hou¹, Hongjie Wang², Qingfu Chen³, Jian-Qiang Su⁴, Mahmoud Gad⁵, Jiangwei Li⁶, Sikandar I Mulla⁷, Chang-Ping Yu⁸, Anyi Hu⁹

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
³ Yundang Lake Management Center, Xiamen, Fujian 361004, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, Fujian 361021, China.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Water Pollution Research Department, National Research Centre, Giza 12622, Egypt.
⁶ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
⁷ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Department of Biochemistry, School of Applied Sciences, Reva University, Bangalore 560064, India.
⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
⁹ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecology, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: ayhu@iue.ac.cn.

PMID: 34000699
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126083

Abstract

Sewage and fecal pollution cause antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) pollution in urban lagoons. Seasonality also affects ARG dynamics. However, knowledge of factors controlling ARG community assembly across seasons is still limited. Here, we revealed the seasonal variation of ARGs and depict the underlying assembly processes and drivers via high-throughput quantitative PCR in an urban lagoon, China. A higher richness and abundance of ARGs were observed in summer and winter compared to spring and fall (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < 0.05). Both ARG and prokaryotic communities were mainly governed by stochastic processes, however, these processes drove ARGs and prokaryotes differently across seasons. Stochastic processes played a more dominant role in shaping ARG communities in summer (average stochasticity: 83%) and winter (75%), resulting in a stable antibiotic resistome. However, no such seasonal pattern of stochastic processes was determined for prokaryotes, indicating a decoupling of the assembly process of ARGs and prokaryotes. Moreover, fecal microorganisms (e.g., Bacteroidetes and Faecalibacterium) mediated the stochastic processes of ARG profiles, via enhancement of prokaryotic biomass and mobile genetic element abundances. The tnpA-07 transposase was the key for the horizontal gene transfer. These findings will enhance our understanding of how fecal pollution shapes ARG community assembly in urban lagoons.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes; Fecal pollution; Prokaryotic community; Stochastic processes; Urban lagoon.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents* / pharmacology
China
Drug Resistance, Microbial / genetics
Environmental Pollution
Genes, Bacterial*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents