Abstract
The extensive use of tetracyclines in human and veterinary medicine causes contamination in the environment that could contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria or competition between species of phytoplankton. In this study, Microcystis aeruginosa (a bloom-forming cyanobacterium) and Chlamydomonas microsphaera (common green alga) were selected to test the effects of different concentrations of tetracyclines (tetracycline and oxytetracycline) in monoculture and co-culture. The results showed that compared with monoculture, the cell growth of C. microsphaera decreased significantly in co-culture treated with different concentrations of tetracycline and oxytetracycline. The ratios of inhibition of M. aeruginosa exposed to 0.1, 2, and 10 mg L−1 of tetracycline varied between 17.7 and 31.37% in co-culture compared with monoculture, while the cell growth of M. aeruginosa was enhanced by treatment with 0.1, 2, and 7.25 mg L−1 of oxytetracycline in co-culture. However, the cell growth of C. microsphaera was significantly inhibited by all the treatments in co-culture. With the treatment of tetracycline, the specific growth rate of M. aeruginosa was 0.36 to 0.31 day−1 in monoculture and co-culture, while that of C. microsphaera ranged from 0.38 to 0.26 day−1 in monoculture, and it decreased from 0.25 day−1 (0 mg L−1) to 0.08 day−1 (10 mg L−1) in co-culture. With the treatment of oxytetracycline, the specific growth rate of M. aeruginosa was stimulated in co-culture, while that of C. microsphaera was significantly inhibited in co-culture compared with monoculture. Therefore, although M. aeruginosa significantly inhibited C. microsphaera in co-culture with the tetracycline-free treatment, the competitive advantage of M. aeruginosa expanded following the addition of low or high concentrations of tetracyclines.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the Scientific Research and Service platform fund of Henan Province (2016151).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by XZ and XJ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by XZ and reviewed by JC and PG. All the authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhou, X., Jiang, X., Chen, J. et al. Interspecific competition between Microcystis aeruginosa and Chlamydomonas microsphaera stressed by tetracyclines. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 83262–83272 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21537-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21537-8