Abstract
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have become an important public health problem. In this study, we used metagenomic sequencing to analyze the composition of ARGs in selected original habitats of northeast China, comprising three different rivers and riverbank soils of the Heilongjiang River, Tumen River, and Yalu River.Twenty types of ARG were detected in the water samples. The major ARGs were multidrug resistance genes, at approximately 0.5 copies/16S rRNA, accounting for 57.5% of the total ARG abundance. The abundance of multidrug, bacitracin, beta-lactam, macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin, sulfonamide, fosmidomycin, and polymyxin resistance genes covered 96.9% of the total ARG abundance. No significant ecological boundary of ARG diversity was observed. The compositions of the resistance genes in the three rivers were very similar to each other, and 92.1% of ARG subtypes were shared by all water samples. Except for vancomycin resistance genes, almost all ARGs in riverbank soils were detected in the river water. About 31.05% ARGs were carried by Pseudomonas. Opportunistic pathogenic bacteria carrying resistance genes were mainly related to diarrhea and respiratory infections. Multidrug and beta-lactam resistance genes correlated positively with mobile genetic elements (MGEs), indicating a potential risk of diffusion.The composition of ARGs in three different rivers was similar, indicating that climate plays an important role in ARG occurrence. ARG subtypes in river water were almost completely the same as those in riverbank soil. ARGs had no significant geographical distribution characteristics. Many ARGs were carried by human pathogenic bacteria related to diarrhea and respiratory infections, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aeromonas caviae. In general, our results provide a valuable dataset of river water ARG distribution in northeast China. The related ecological and geographical distribution characteristics should be further explored.
Highlights
Antibiotics to treat and prevent bacterial infections are widely used in animal husbandry and aquaculture (Marti et al 2014)
Twenty types of Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were present in all water samples, and bleomycin resistance genes were only detected in a few samples of YLJ and Heilongjiang River (HLJ)
We investigated ARGs in the original habitats of three rivers in northeast China
Summary
Antibiotics to treat and prevent bacterial infections are widely used in animal husbandry and aquaculture (Marti et al 2014). Urban sewage (Cui et al 2020), hospital water (Dias et al 2020), and aquaculture (Liu et al 2020) result in the discharge of a large number of ARGs into natural water bodies, making rivers and lakes an important location for ARG exchange and transmission. It has been reported that the river environment is affected by human activities and has become the most important repository of ARGs. As water sources and important aquaculture environments, rivers have strong influence on public health. Understanding the occurrence, diffusion, and fate of ARGs in rivers are key to controlling the pollution and diffusion of ARGs. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have become an important public health problem. We used metagenomic sequencing to analyze the composition of ARGs in certain original habitats of northeast China, comprising three different rivers and riverbank soils of the Heilongjiang River, Tumen River, and Yalu River
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