Global diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in human wastewater treatment systems

IF 14.7 1区综合性期刊 Q1 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES

Nature Communications Pub Date : 2025-04-29 DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3

Congmin Zhu, Linwei Wu, Daliang Ning, Renmao Tian, Shuhong Gao, Bing Zhang, Jianshu Zhao, Ya Zhang, Naijia Xiao, Yajiao Wang, Mathew R. Brown, Qichao Tu, Feng Ju, George F. Wells, Jianhua Guo, Zhili He, Per H. Nielsen, Aijie Wang, Yu Zhang, Ting Chen, Qiang He, Craig S. Criddle, Michael Wagner, James M. Tiedje, Thomas P. Curtis, Xianghua Wen, Yunfeng Yang, Lisa Alvarez-Cohen, David A. Stahl, Pedro J. J. Alvarez, Bruce E. Rittmann, Jizhong Zhou

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Abstract

Antibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to human health, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are important reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here, we analyze the antibiotic resistomes of 226 activated sludge samples from 142 WWTPs across six continents, using a consistent pipeline for sample collection, DNA sequencing and analysis. We find that ARGs are diverse and similarly abundant, with a core set of 20 ARGs present in all WWTPs. ARG composition differs across continents and is distinct from that of the human gut and the oceans. ARG composition strongly correlates with bacterial taxonomic composition, with Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria being the major carriers. ARG abundance positively correlates with the presence of mobile genetic elements, and 57% of the 1112 recovered high-quality genomes possess putatively mobile ARGs. Resistome variations appear to be driven by a complex combination of stochastic processes and deterministic abiotic factors.

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人类废水处理系统中抗生素耐药基因的全球多样性和分布

抗生素耐药性对人类健康构成严重威胁，污水处理厂是抗生素耐药基因的重要储存库。在这里，我们分析了来自六大洲142个污水处理厂的226个活性污泥样本的抗生素抗性组，使用一致的管道进行样本收集，DNA测序和分析。我们发现arg的种类繁多且同样丰富，在所有的wwtp中都有20个核心arg。各大洲的ARG组成各不相同，与人类肠道和海洋的ARG组成不同。ARG的组成与细菌的分类组成密切相关，以Chloroflexi、Acidobacteria和Deltaproteobacteria为主要载体。ARG丰度与移动遗传元件的存在正相关，在1112个高质量基因组中，57%具有假定的移动ARG。抵抗组变异似乎是由随机过程和确定性非生物因素的复杂组合驱动的。

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来源期刊

Nature Communications Biological Science Disciplines-

CiteScore

24.90

自引率

2.40%

发文量

6928

审稿时长

3.7 months

期刊介绍： Nature Communications, an open-access journal, publishes high-quality research spanning all areas of the natural sciences. Papers featured in the journal showcase significant advances relevant to specialists in each respective field. With a 2-year impact factor of 16.6 (2022) and a median time of 8 days from submission to the first editorial decision, Nature Communications is committed to rapid dissemination of research findings. As a multidisciplinary journal, it welcomes contributions from biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, social, mathematical, applied, and engineering sciences, aiming to highlight important breakthroughs within each domain.