Effect of erythromycin on epiphytic bacterial communities and water quality in wetlands

Abstract

The occurrence of antibiotics such as erythromycin (ERY) under macrolide group, has long been acknowledged for negatively affecting ecosystems in freshwater environments. However, the effects of ERY on water quality and microbial communities in epiphytic biofilms are poorly understood. Here, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), High-throughput sequencing, and physicochemical analytical methods were employed to unravel the impact of ERY on the water quality and bacterial morphology, biodiversity, composition, interaction, and ecological function in epiphytic biofilms attached to Vallisneria natans and artificial plants in mesocosmic wetlands. The study showed that ERY exposure significantly impaired the nutrient removal capacity (TN, TP, and COD) and altered the epiphytic bacterial morphology of V. natans and artificial plants. ERY did not affect the bacterial α-diversity. Notwithstanding ERY decreased the bacterial composition, but the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Patescibacteria spiked by 62.2 % and 54 %, respectively, in V. natans, while Desulfobacteria and Chloroflexi increased by 8.9 % and 11.2 %, respectively, in artificial plants. Notably, ERY disturbed the food web structure and metabolic pathways such as carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism, cofactor and vitamin metabolism, membrane transport, and signal transduction. This study revealed that ERY exposure disrupted the bacterial morphology, composition, interaction or food web structure, and metabolic functions in epiphytic biofilm. These data underlined that ERY negatively impacts epiphytic bacterial communities and nutrient removal in wetlands.