Abundant bacteria shaped by deterministic processes have a high abundance of potential antibiotic resistance genes in a plateau river sediment.

Abstract

Recent research on abundant and rare bacteria has expanded our understanding of bacterial community assembly. However, the relationships of abundant and rare bacteria with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) remain largely unclear. Here, we investigated the biogeographical patterns and assembly processes of the abundant and rare bacteria from river sediment at high altitudes (Lhasa River, China) and their potential association with the ARGs. The results showed that the abundant bacteria were dominated by Proteobacteria (55.4%) and Cyanobacteria (13.9%), while the Proteobacteria (33.6%) and Bacteroidetes (18.8%) were the main components of rare bacteria. Rare bacteria with a large taxonomic pool can provide function insurance in bacterial communities. Spatial distribution of persistent abundant and rare bacteria also exhibited striking differences. Strong selection of environmental heterogeneity may lead to deterministic processes, which were the main assembly processes of abundant bacteria. In contrast, the assembly processes of rare bacteria affected by latitude were dominated by stochastic processes. Abundant bacteria had the highest abundance of metabolic pathways of potential drug resistance in all predicted functional genes and a high abundance of potential ARGs. There was a strong potential connection between these ARGs and mobile genetic elements, which could increase the ecological risk of abundant taxa and human disease. These results provide insights into sedimental bacterial communities and ARGs in river ecosystems.