Adaptation of methanogenic microbial assemblages to antibiotics: The role of resistance genes and taxonomic composition

IF 7.3 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environmental Pollution Pub Date : 2025-07-14 DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126828

Eric Bollinger , Johanna Mayer , Foon Yin Lai , Ralf Schulz , Sabine Filker , Mirco Bundschuh

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Abstract

Antibiotics are omnipresent contaminants in aquatic systems and can impact key ecosystem processes. Methanogenesis by anaerobic Archaea is such a process that has gained attention because antibiotics can increase their methane (CH₄) production dynamics – a 28-fold more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Since such effects may depend on assemblage composition and antibiotic resistance, we investigated antibiotic effects on methanogenesis in sediments from a negiglibly impacted site (reserve) and downstream of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Prior to incubation, short-term pre-treatment with antibiotics aimed to stimulate adaptive responses. During incubation, antibiotics reduced methanogenesis speed in WWTP sediment (−7 %) but increased it in the reserve (10 %), with site-specific patterns linked to differences in prokaryotic assemblage composition and their gene expression. Methanomicrobia, a key methanogenic group, showed contrasting responses across sites, likely mediated by prokaryotic substrate dynamics, particularly within the acetate pathway. Pre-treatment effects on methanogenesis dynamics were minor (maximum Bayesian factor of 3.6), but subtle shifts in prokaryotic activity and composition were observed. Elevated antibiotic resistance gene expression in WWTP sediments reflected historical exposure but did not mitigate antibiotic impacts on methanogenesis. These findings show the vulnerability of methanogenic assemblages to antibiotics despite potential adaptations and emphasize the risks posed by pharmaceutical pollution to critical freshwater ecosystem functions.

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产甲烷微生物组合对抗生素的适应：抗性基因的作用和分类组成

抗生素是水生系统中无处不在的污染物，可以影响关键的生态系统过程。厌氧古菌的产甲烷是这样一个引起人们关注的过程，因为抗生素可以增加它们的甲烷（CH4）生产动态——一种比二氧化碳强28倍的温室气体。由于这种影响可能取决于组合成分和抗生素耐药性，我们研究了抗生素对来自一个可忽略不计的影响地点（保护区）和污水处理厂（WWTP）下游的沉积物中的甲烷生成的影响。在孵育之前，用抗生素进行短期预处理，旨在刺激适应性反应。在孵育期间，抗生素降低了污水处理厂沉积物中的甲烷生成速度（-7%），但增加了储备中的甲烷生成速度（10%），其位点特异性模式与原核生物组合组成及其基因表达的差异有关。甲烷微生物是一个关键的产甲烷菌群，在不同的位点上表现出不同的反应，可能是由原核底物动力学介导的，特别是在醋酸途径中。预处理对产甲烷动力学的影响较小（最大贝叶斯因子为3.6），但原核生物活性和组成发生了微妙的变化。污水处理厂沉积物中抗生素抗性基因表达的升高反映了历史暴露，但并未减轻抗生素对甲烷生成的影响。这些发现表明，尽管有潜在的适应性，产甲烷菌群对抗生素的脆弱性，并强调了药物污染对关键淡水生态系统功能构成的风险。

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来源期刊

Environmental Pollution 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

16.00

自引率

6.70%

发文量

2082

审稿时长

2.9 months

期刊介绍： Environmental Pollution is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality research papers and review articles covering all aspects of environmental pollution and its impacts on ecosystems and human health. Subject areas include, but are not limited to: • Sources and occurrences of pollutants that are clearly defined and measured in environmental compartments, food and food-related items, and human bodies; • Interlinks between contaminant exposure and biological, ecological, and human health effects, including those of climate change; • Contaminants of emerging concerns (including but not limited to antibiotic resistant microorganisms or genes, microplastics/nanoplastics, electronic wastes, light, and noise) and/or their biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Laboratory and field studies on the remediation/mitigation of environmental pollution via new techniques and with clear links to biological, ecological, or human health effects; • Modeling of pollution processes, patterns, or trends that is of clear environmental and/or human health interest; • New techniques that measure and examine environmental occurrences, transport, behavior, and effects of pollutants within the environment or the laboratory, provided that they can be clearly used to address problems within regional or global environmental compartments.