Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are widespread in aquatic environments, but we know little about their biogeographical distribution and occurrence at national scales. Here we analyzed the patterns of ARGs from 42 natural waterbodies (natural lakes and reservoirs) across China using high-throughpu...
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doaj-b03d6ca349d74bb2896e09ee96514a9a2020-11-25T02:05:43ZengElsevierEnvironment International0160-41202018-08-01117292299Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of ChinaLemian Liu0Jian-Qiang Su1Yunyan Guo2David M. Wilkinson3Zhengwen Liu4Yong-Guan Zhu5Jun Yang6Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, People's Republic of China; College of Biological Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, People's Republic of China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UKState Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, People's Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, People's Republic of China; Corresponding author at: Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, People's Republic of China.Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are widespread in aquatic environments, but we know little about their biogeographical distribution and occurrence at national scales. Here we analyzed the patterns of ARGs from 42 natural waterbodies (natural lakes and reservoirs) across China using high-throughput approaches. The major ARGs were multidrug genes and the main resistance mechanism was the efflux pump. Although the absolute abundance of ARGs (gene copies/L) in the south/central waterbodies was similar to the northern waterbodies, the normalized abundance of ARGs (ARGs/16S rRNA gene copy number) was higher in the south/central waterbodies than in the north (mainly because of the aminoglycoside and multidrug resistance genes). Human activities strongly correlated with the normalized abundance of ARGs. The composition of ARGs in the waterbodies of south/central China was different from that in the north, and ARGs showed a distance-decay relationship. Anthropogenic factors had the most significant effects on this spatial distribution of ARG composition, followed by the spatial, bacterial and physicochemical factors. These indicate that the ARGs exhibited biogeographical patterns and that multiple ecological mechanisms - such as environmental selection (human activities and local physicochemical parameters) and dispersal limitation - influence distribution of ARGs in these waters. In general, our results provide a valuable ecological insight to explain the large-scale dispersal patterns in ARGs, thereby having potential applications for both public health and environmental management. Keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes, Functional biogeography, Anthropogenic activities, Community ecology, Geographical distance, Multidrug resistance gene, Lake and reservoirhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412017319906 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lemian Liu Jian-Qiang Su Yunyan Guo David M. Wilkinson Zhengwen Liu Yong-Guan Zhu Jun Yang |
spellingShingle |
Lemian Liu Jian-Qiang Su Yunyan Guo David M. Wilkinson Zhengwen Liu Yong-Guan Zhu Jun Yang Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China Environment International |
author_facet |
Lemian Liu Jian-Qiang Su Yunyan Guo David M. Wilkinson Zhengwen Liu Yong-Guan Zhu Jun Yang |
author_sort |
Lemian Liu |
title |
Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China |
title_short |
Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China |
title_full |
Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China |
title_fullStr |
Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of China |
title_sort |
large-scale biogeographical patterns of bacterial antibiotic resistome in the waterbodies of china |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Environment International |
issn |
0160-4120 |
publishDate |
2018-08-01 |
description |
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are widespread in aquatic environments, but we know little about their biogeographical distribution and occurrence at national scales. Here we analyzed the patterns of ARGs from 42 natural waterbodies (natural lakes and reservoirs) across China using high-throughput approaches. The major ARGs were multidrug genes and the main resistance mechanism was the efflux pump. Although the absolute abundance of ARGs (gene copies/L) in the south/central waterbodies was similar to the northern waterbodies, the normalized abundance of ARGs (ARGs/16S rRNA gene copy number) was higher in the south/central waterbodies than in the north (mainly because of the aminoglycoside and multidrug resistance genes). Human activities strongly correlated with the normalized abundance of ARGs. The composition of ARGs in the waterbodies of south/central China was different from that in the north, and ARGs showed a distance-decay relationship. Anthropogenic factors had the most significant effects on this spatial distribution of ARG composition, followed by the spatial, bacterial and physicochemical factors. These indicate that the ARGs exhibited biogeographical patterns and that multiple ecological mechanisms - such as environmental selection (human activities and local physicochemical parameters) and dispersal limitation - influence distribution of ARGs in these waters. In general, our results provide a valuable ecological insight to explain the large-scale dispersal patterns in ARGs, thereby having potential applications for both public health and environmental management. Keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes, Functional biogeography, Anthropogenic activities, Community ecology, Geographical distance, Multidrug resistance gene, Lake and reservoir |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412017319906 |
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