Dynamics of Antibiotic Resistance Genes During the Municipal Solid Waste Leachate Treatment

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are considered to be emerging environmental contaminants. ARGs are frequently detected in municipal solid waste landfill and its leachate. In this study, high-throughput quantitative PCR techniques were used to investigate the dynamics of ARGs during the treatment process of landfill leachate. The results showed that ARGs in leachate were diverse and abundant, and leachate treatment could effectively reduce their abundance; the absolute abundance of ARGs was reduced to 9.2×1010 copies·L-1, which was five orders of magnitude less than the abundance of the influent. However, the range and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in the leachate effluents were still high compared to the natural environment. Therefore, the secondary contamination of ARGs might be caused by leachate being directly discharged into municipal sewage system. In this regard, ecological and environmental risk is an inconvenient truth. Furthermore, strong correlations indicate that heavy metals and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in landfill leachate might influence the transfer of ARGs.