Land-derived wastewater facilitates antibiotic resistance contamination in marine sediment of semi-closed bay: A case study in Jiaozhou Bay, China

Abstract

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a severe threat to public health. There are few studies on the effects of sewage discharge on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) contamination in Jiaozhou Bay sediment. Herein, a total of 281 ARG subtypes, 10 mobile genetic elements (MGEs), 10 antibiotics and bacterial communities in marine sediments from Jiaozhou Bay were characterized. Similar bacterial community structures and ARG profiles were identified between the various sampling sites inside the bay, which were both dominated by multidrug and (fluoro)quinolone resistance genes and harbored lower relative abundances of ARGs than those in the sampling sites near the bay exit. Compared with antibiotics and MGEs, bacterial community composition was a more important driver of ARG diversity and geographic distribution. The abundance of pathogens carrying genetic information increased dramatically in southern Jiaozhou Bay is affected by sewage discharge, which indicating that wastewater discharge facilitated ARG contamination of marine sediments. This study highlights the risk of disseminating antibiotic resistance-influencing factors from treated wastewater discharge into marine environment there is an urgent need to optimize or improve wastewater treatment processes to enhance the removal of antibiotics and ARGs. This study has necessary implications for filling the gap in information on antibiotic resistance in Jiaozhou Bay and developing future pollution regulation and control measures.