Insights into the antibiotic resistance dissemination in a wastewater effluent microbiome: bacteria, viruses and vesicles matter

Autor: Francisco Martinez-Hernandez, Andrea Angla Navarro, Lucia Maestre-Carballa, Manuel Martinez-Garcia, Monica Lluesma Gomez, Inmaculada Garcia-Heredia
Přispěvatelé: Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Fisiología, Genética y Microbiología, Ecología Microbiana Molecular
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: RUA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante
Universidad de Alicante (UA)
ISSN: 2018-0942
Popis: Wastewater treatment plants effluents are considered as hotspots for the dispersion of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into natural ecosystems. The bacterial resistome (ARG collection in a metagenome) analyses have provided clues on antibacterial resistance dynamics. However, viruses and vesicles are frequently ignored. Here, we addressed the bacterial, viral and vesicle resistomes from a representative wastewater effluent in natural conditions and amended with polymyxin, which is used as a last resort antibiotic. Metagenomics showed that the natural prokaryotic resistome was vast (9000 ARG hits/Gb metagenome) and diverse, while viral resistome was two orders of magnitude lower (50 ARG hits/Gb metagenome) suggesting that viruses rarely encoded ARGs. After polymyxin amendment, data showed no ARG enrichment – including to polymyxin – in the microbiome. Remarkably, microbiomes responded to polymyxin with a vast release of putative vesicles (threefold increase compared with the control), which might be used as 'traps' to decrease the antibiotic concentration. Intriguingly, although polymyxin resistance genes (PRGs) were rare in the microbiome (0.018% of total ARG found), in the viral and vesicle fractions, PRGs were more abundant (0.5%–0.8% of total ARG found). Our data suggest that vesicles could have a more active role in the context of transmission of antibiotic resistances. This work has been supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (ref. RTI2018-094248-B-I00), Generalitat Valenciana (refs. ACOM/2015/133 and ACIF/2015/332), and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (grant 5334).
Databáze: OpenAIRE