Vertical changes in water depth and environmental variables drove the antibiotics and antibiotic resistomes distribution, and microbial food web structures in the estuary and marine ecosystems

Okugbe Ebiotubo Ohore; Binessi Edouard Ifon; Yuwen Wang; Syed Shabi Ul Hassan Kazmi; Jingli Zhang; Edmond Sanganyado; Xiaoyang Jiao; Wenhua Liu; Zhen Wang

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2023.108118

Vertical changes in water depth and environmental variables drove the antibiotics and antibiotic resistomes distribution, and microbial food web structures in the estuary and marine ecosystems

Environ Int. 2023 Aug:178:108118. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108118. Epub 2023 Jul 26.

Authors

Okugbe Ebiotubo Ohore¹, Binessi Edouard Ifon², Yuwen Wang¹, Syed Shabi Ul Hassan Kazmi¹, Jingli Zhang³, Edmond Sanganyado⁴, Xiaoyang Jiao⁵, Wenhua Liu⁶, Zhen Wang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Disaster Prediction and Prevention, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Shantou University, Shantou 515063, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, University of Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin, Cotonou 01 BP 4521, Benin.
³ Department of Clinical Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong 515041, China.
⁴ Department of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE2 4PB, UK.
⁵ Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong 515041, China.
⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Disaster Prediction and Prevention, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Shantou University, Shantou 515063, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China.
⁷ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Disaster Prediction and Prevention, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, Shantou University, Shantou 515063, China. Electronic address: zhenwang@stu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37517178
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108118

Abstract

The influence of vertical changes in water depth on emerging pollutants distribution and microbial food web remains elusive. We investigated the influence of vertical transition in water depth on the environmental variables, antibiotics and antibiotic resistomes, and microbial community structures in estuary and marine ecosystems (0-50 m). Stepwise multiple linear regression model showed that among investigated environmental variables, change in water salinity was the most influential factor dictating the fluoroquinolone and macrolides concentrations, while dissolved oxygen and turbidity were the key influencers of sulfonamides and beta-lactam concentrations, respectively. Bacterial and eukaryotic diversity and niche breadth significantly increased with the increasing water depth. Ecosystem food web structure at the bottom depths was more stable than at the middle and surface depths. At the surface depth, the top 5 keystone genera were Cryothecomonas, Syndiniales, Achromobacter, Pseudopirsonia, and Karlodinium. Whereas Eugregarinorida, Neptuniibacter, Mychonastes, Novel_Apicomplexa_Class_1, Aplanochytrium and Dietzia, Halodaphnea, Luminiphilus, Aplanochytrium, Maullinia dominated the top 5 genera at the middle and the bottom depth, respectively. Absolute abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was drastically increased at the surface depth compared with the middle and bottom depths. Abundance of the top 10 ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) detected including tnpA-05, aadA2-03, mexF, aadA1, intI-1(clinic), qacEdelta1-02, aadA-02, qacEdelta1-01, cmlA1-01, and aadA-01 were amplified at the surface depth. This study demonstrated that ARGs abundance was disproportionate to bacterial diversity, and anthropogenic disturbances, confinement, MGEs, and ecosystem stability play primary roles in the fate of ARGs. The findings of this study also implicate that vertical changes in the water depth on environmental conditions can influence antibiotic concentrations and microbial community dramatically.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes; Bacterial diversity; Estuary; Eukaryotic diversity; Marine; Water depth.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents* / analysis
Anti-Bacterial Agents* / pharmacology
Bacteria / genetics
Estuaries
Food Chain
Genes, Bacterial
Microbiota*
Water

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Water