摘要

在人类选择抗微生物剂的驱动下，抗生素抗性基因（ARG）已经从环境抗性基因组转移到人类共生体和病原体。这些基因在人类和家畜中的含量大量增加，成为废物流的共同组成部分。河口栖息地位于陆地/淡水和海洋生态系统之间，是污染物的天然过滤点。我们利用高通量定量聚合酶链式反应分析了中国沿海4000多公里18个河口沉积物中的ARG，并研究了它们与细菌群落，抗生素残留和社会经济因素的关系。河口沉积物中的ARGs含量丰富多样，共检测到200多个不同的抗性基因，其中18个在所有90个沉积物样品中被发现。已鉴定的抗性基因与已知的移动元件，网络分析和部分冗余分析的强相关性都表明人类活动造成这些ARGs的丰度和传播。异种元素的广泛污染会对环境，农业和医疗造成不良后果。

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have moved from the environmental resistome into human commensals and pathogens, driven by human selection with antimicrobial agents. These genes have increased in abundance in humans and domestic animals, to become common components of waste streams. Estuarine habitats lie between terrestrial/freshwater and marine ecosystems, acting as natural filtering points for pollutants. Here, we have profiled ARGs in sediments from 18 estuaries over 4,000 km of coastal China using high-throughput quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and investigated their relationship with bacterial communities, antibiotic residues and socio-economic factors. ARGs in estuarine sediments were diverse and abundant, with over 200 different resistance genes being detected, 18 of which were found in all 90 sediment samples. The strong correlations of identified resistance genes with known mobile elements, network analyses and partial redundancy analysis all led to the conclusion that human activity is responsible for the abundance and dissemination of these ARGs. Such widespread pollution with xenogenetic elements has environmental, agricultural and medical consequences.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol2016270