摘要
污水处理厂（污水处理厂）从各种来源收集废水，用于多步骤处理过程。通过混合多种细菌并促进其接近，污水处理厂构成抗生素抗性细菌出现的潜在热点。人们对污水处理厂将抗生素抗性基因（ARG）从环境水库传播给人类病原体的可能性表示关注。我们利用epicPCR（乳液，成对分离和连锁PCR）检测两个污水处理厂中ARG的细菌宿主。我们在进水和出水中鉴定了四种抗性相关基因（tetM，int1，qacEΔ1和blaOXA-58）的宿主分布。这些抗性基因的细菌宿主在WWTP流入物和流出物之间变化，流出物中的宿主范围通常降低。通过16S rRNA基因测序，确定携带细菌的抗性基因包括丰富和罕见的分类群。我们的研究结果表明，研究的污水处理厂主要成功地减少了处理过程中抗性基因的宿主范围。然而，有些情况下，流出物含有在进水中不携带这些基因的细菌群体中的抗性基因。通过允许对WWTP细菌群落中的抗性相关基因宿主进行详尽的分析，epicPCR的应用为我们的抗性基因风险估计提供了新的精确度。
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) collect wastewater from various sources for a multi-step treatment process. By mixing a large variety of bacteria and promoting their proximity, WWTPs constitute potential hotspots for the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Concerns have been expressed regarding the potential of WWTPs to spread antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from environmental reservoirs to human pathogens. We utilized epicPCR (Emulsion, Paired Isolation and Concatenation PCR) to detect the bacterial hosts of ARGs in two WWTPs. We identified the host distribution of four resistance-associated genes (tetM, int1, qacEΔ1and blaOXA-58) in influent and effluent. The bacterial hosts of these resistance genes varied between the WWTP influent and effluent, with a generally decreasing host range in the effluent. Through 16S rRNA gene sequencing, it was determined that the resistance gene carrying bacteria include both abundant and rare taxa. Our results suggest that the studied WWTPs mostly succeed in decreasing the host range of the resistance genes during the treatment process. Still, there were instances where effluent contained resistance genes in bacterial groups not carrying these genes in the influent. By permitting exhaustive profiling of resistance-associated gene hosts in WWTP bacterial communities, the application of epicPCR provides a new level of precision to our resistance gene risk estimates.
https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/94/4/fiy038/4919723
