摘要

       抗生素抗性基因 (ARG) 已从环境抗性组转移到人类共生体和病原体，这是由人类选择抗微生物剂驱动的。这些基因在人类和家畜中大量增加，成为废物流的常见成分。河口栖息地位于陆地/淡水和海洋生态系统之间，充当污染物的天然过滤点。在这里，我们使用高通量定量聚合酶链反应分析了来自中国沿海 4,000 km 的 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 种类繁多且丰富，检测到 200 多个不同的抗性基因，其中 18 个在所有 90 个沉积物样品中都被发现。已识别的抗性基因与已知移动元件、网络分析和部分冗余分析的强相关性都得出了人类活动是这些 ARG 的丰度和传播的原因。异种元素的这种广泛污染具有环境、农业和医学后果。

       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