Horizontal and vertical gene transfer drive sediment antibiotic resistome in an urban lagoon system
Journal
Journal of Environmental Sciences (China)
Journal Volume
102
Pages
11-23
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
Rapid urbanization has resulted in pervasive occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in urban aquatic ecosystems. However, limited information is available concerning the ARG profiles and the forces responsible for their assembly in urban landscape lagoon systems. Here, we employed high-throughput quantitative PCR (HT-qPCR) to characterize the spatial variations of ARGs in surface and core sediments of Yundang Lagoon, China. The results indicated that the average richness and absolute abundance of ARGs were 11 and 53 times higher in the lagoon sediments as compared to pristine reference Tibetan lake sediments, highlighting the role of anthropogenic activities in ARG pollution. Co-occurrence network analysis indicated that various anaerobic prokaryotic genera belonging to Alpha-, Deltaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Euryarchaeota, Firmicutes and Synergistetes were the potential hosts of ARGs. The partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) analysis revealed positive and negative indirect effects of physicochemical factors and heavy metals on the lagoon ARG profiles, via biotic factors, respectively. The horizontal (mediated by mobile genetic elements) and vertical (mediated by prokaryotic communities) gene transfer may directly contribute the most to drive the abundance and composition of ARGs, respectively. Furthermore, the neutral community model demonstrated that the assembly of sediment ARG communities was jointly governed by deterministic and stochastic processes. Overall, this study provides novel insights into the diversity and distribution of ARGs in the benthic habitat of urban lagoon systems and underlying mechanisms for the spread and proliferation of ARGs. ? 2020
Subjects
Antibiotics; Aquatic ecosystems; Gene transfer; Genes; Heavy metals; Lakes; Least squares approximations; Polymerase chain reaction; Random processes; Stochastic models; Stochastic systems; Anthropogenic activity; Antibiotic resistance genes; Co-occurrence networks; Limited information; Partial least square (PLS); Physico-chemical factors; Rapid urbanizations; Spatial variations; Sediments; antibiotic resistance; fluvial deposit; gene transfer; heavy metal; human activity; lagoon; least squares method; network analysis; physicochemical property; polymerase chain reaction; spatial variation; urbanization; China; Fujian; Xiamen; Yundang Lagoon; Bacteroidetes; Deltaproteobacteria; Euryarchaeota; Firmicutes; Prokaryota; antiinfective agent; antibiotic resistance; bacterial gene; China; ecosystem; genetics; Anti-Bacterial Agents; China; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Ecosystem; Genes, Bacterial
Type
journal article