Profiles of phage in global hospital wastewater: Association with microbial hosts, antibiotic resistance genes, metal resistance genes, and mobile genetic elements

Abstract

Hospital wastewater (HWW) is known to host taxonomically diverse microbial communities, yet limited information is available on the phages infecting these microorganisms. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted an in-depth analysis using 377 publicly available HWW metagenomic datasets from 16 countries across 4 continents in the NCBI SRA database to elucidate phage-host dynamics and phage contributions to resistance gene transmission. We first assembled a metagenomic HWW phage catalog comprising 13,812 phage operational taxonomic units (pOTUs). The majority of these pOTUs belonged to the Caudoviricetes order, representing 75.29 % of this catalog. Based on the lifestyle of phages, we found that potentially virulent phages predominated in HWW. Specifically, 583 pOTUs have been predicted to have the capability to lyse 81 potentially pathogenic bacteria, suggesting the promising role of HWW phages as a viable alternative to antibiotics. Among all pOTUs, 1.56 % of pOTUs carry 108 subtypes of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), 0.96 % of pOTUs carry 76 subtypes of metal resistance genes (MRGs), and 0.96 % of pOTUs carry 22 subtypes of non-phage mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Predictions indicate that certain phages carrying ARGs, MRGs, and non-phage MGEs could infect bacteria hosts, even potential pathogens. This suggests that phages in HWW may contribute to the dissemination of resistance-associated genes in the environment. This meta-analysis provides the first global catalog of HWW phages, revealing their correlations with microbial hosts and pahge-associated ARGs, MRG, and non-phage MGEs. The insights gained from this research hold promise for advancing the applications of phages in medical and industrial contexts.