Linkage and driving mechanisms of antibiotic resistome in surface and ground water: Their responses to land use and seasonal variation

Lu Zhang; Lei Ji; Xi Liu; Xue Zhu; Kang Ning; Zhi Wang

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2022.118279

Linkage and driving mechanisms of antibiotic resistome in surface and ground water: Their responses to land use and seasonal variation

Water Res. 2022 May 15:215:118279. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118279. Epub 2022 Mar 10.

Authors

Lu Zhang¹, Lei Ji², Xi Liu³, Xue Zhu², Kang Ning⁴, Zhi Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation of Hubei, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Center of AI Biology, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China.
³ Key Laboratory for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation of Hubei, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China; Ecological Environment Monitoring and Scientific Research Center, Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision and Administration Bureau, Ministry of Ecological Environment, Wuhan 430010, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Molecular-imaging, Center of AI Biology, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China. Electronic address: ningkang@hust.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation of Hubei, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China. Electronic address: zwang@apm.ac.cn.

PMID: 35305488
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118279

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance in the environment, mostly mediated by antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), has posed a threat to ecological and human health. Contamination of surface water and groundwater with ARGs has become a serious environmental concern. However, the distinctions and similarities across ARG profiles, the various ecological processes associated with ARGs, the driving mechanisms for ARG profiles in surface water and groundwater, and how they respond to land use and seasonal variation remain unknown. To tackle these issues, the contamination of ARGs in surface water and groundwater in central China was investigated using metagenomic technology. The results indicated that seasonal changes in ARG abundance and diversity were inconsistent across surface water and groundwater, and that the relationship between ARGs in surface water and groundwater was stronger during the rainy season. Land use had a greater effect on ARGs in surface water than in groundwater and was stronger during the dry season than during the rainy season. More interestingly, the ideal buffer zones with the greatest impact of land use on the ARGs of surface water and groundwater had distinct radii: 1500 m for both dry and rainy seasons in surface water, and 1000 m for dry season and 500 m for rainy season in groundwater. Furthermore, stochastic mechanisms mediated by mobile gene elements (MGEs) contribute significantly more to ARG assemblages than deterministic processes, particularly in groundwater. Furthermore, our results also showed that ARG enrichment in microbial communities was host- dependent, and the risk of ARGs in groundwater was greater both during the rainy season and dry season. In conclusion, the findings have improved our understanding of the relationship and driving mechanisms of ARGs in surface and ground water, as well as their responses to land use and seasonal variation, which may be beneficial for limiting ARG pollution in a watershed with high levels of anthropogenic activity.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistome; Ecological process; Groundwater; Land use; Metagenomic.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents*
Drug Resistance, Microbial / genetics
Genes, Bacterial
Groundwater*
Humans
Seasons

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents