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Increased levels of antibiotic resistance in urban stream of Jiulongjiang River, China

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

The rapid global urbanization and other extensive anthropogenic activities exacerbated the worldwide human health risks induced by antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Knowledge of the origins and dissemination of ARGs is essential for understanding modern resistome, while little information is known regarding the overall resistance levels in urban river. In this study, the abundance of multi-resistant bacteria (MRB) and ARGs was investigated using culture-based method and high-throughput qPCR in water samples collected from urban stream and source of Jiulongjiang River, China, respectively. The abundance of MRB (conferring resistance to three combinations of antibiotics and vancomycin) was significantly higher in urban samples. A total of 212 ARGs were detected among all the water samples, which encoded resistance to almost all major classes of antibiotics and encompassed major resistant mechanisms. The total abundance of ARGs in urban samples (ranging from 9.72 × 1010 to 1.03 × 1011 copies L−1) was over two orders of magnitude higher than that in pristine samples (7.18 × 108 copies L−1), accompanied with distinct ARGs structures, significantly higher diversity, and enrichment of ARGs. Significant correlations between the abundance of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were observed, implicating the potential of horizontal transfer of ARGs. High abundance and enrichment of diverse ARGs and MGEs detected in urban river provide evidence that anthropogenic activities are responsible for the emergence and dissemination of ARGs to the urban river and management options should be taken into account for minimizing the spread of ARGs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21210008) and International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (No. 2011DFB91710).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Wei-Ying Ouyang, Fu-Yi Huang, Yi Zhao, Hu Li & Jian-Qiang Su

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Wei-Ying Ouyang & Hu Li

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  1. Wei-Ying Ouyang
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  2. Fu-Yi Huang
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Correspondence to Jian-Qiang Su.

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Ouyang, WY., Huang, FY., Zhao, Y. et al. Increased levels of antibiotic resistance in urban stream of Jiulongjiang River, China. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 5697–5707 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6416-5

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