Occurrence, abundance, and distribution of sulfonamide and tetracycline resistance genes in agricultural soils across China

Abstract

The prevalence and proliferation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been identified as an emerging contaminant of concern and a crucial threat to public health worldwide. In this study, we carried out a nation-wide sampling campaign across China to investigate the distribution and abundances of 8 major ARGs in agricultural soils. The levels of sulfonamide (sul) and tetracycline (tet) resistance genes in China's agricultural soils ranged from 10−6–10−2 to 10−8–10−2 gene copies/16S rRNA gene copies, respectively. Northeast China is the hot-spot of ARGs, likely due to long-term wastewater irrigation in the area. Redundancy analysis was further performed to assess the influences of environmental variables on ARG abundances. Sulfonamide resistance genes displayed strong correlations with meteorological parameters (mean annual precipitation and temperature), and decreased from north to south. In comparison, tetracycline resistance genes were more closely related to soil organic matter and pH. Co-selection between heavy metals and ARGs was significant among Cu, Hg and sulfonamide resistance genes. This study highlighted the current status of ARG contamination and their influencing factors in China's agricultural soils. Findings are valuable to identify effective management options for reducing the release of antibiotics and control ARG spread in the agriculture sector across the world.