Effect of florfenicol on nirS-type denitrifying communities structure of water in an aquatic microcosm model

Abstract

Florfenicol is used worldwide for its low side effects and strong bactericidal effect. Florfenicol is physicochemically stable and can persist in natural water bodies and affect water denitrification. Indoor aquatic microcosm models were constructed and water samples were collected at different florfenicol concentrations (0.1, 1, 10, and 100 mg/L) on days 0, 7, 30, and 60 to extract the microbial genome DNA and determine the water properties. qPCR and amplicon sequencing were used to study the dynamic changes of nirS gene and nirS-type denitrifying communities structure, diversity and abundance, respectively. The results showed that higher florfenicol concentrations caused accumulation of nitrate and ammonium nitrogen in water. Florfenicol stress caused orders of magnitude changes in nirS gene abundance, showing a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. 100 mg/L florfenicol addition led to a sustained increase of nirS gene abundance in water bodies. The florfenicol addition altered denitrifying community structure and suppressed the richness and diversity index of denitrifying bacteria in water body. Over time, the richness and diversity index gradually recovered. Proteobacteria was always the dominant denitrifying phylum in water. The relative abundance of Pseudomonas and beta proteobacterium showed obvious positive correlation with nirS gene abundance and were the dominant genera under florfenicol stress. Our study provided a scientific basis for the rational use of florfenicol in aquaculture to maintain a healthy and stable microecological environment, and also provided a preliminary understanding of the response characteristics of water denitrifying microorganisms to florfenicol exposure.

Effects of Florfenicol on nirS-Type Denitrification Community Structure of Sediments in an Aquatic Microcosm Model

“…Several studies have shown that florfenicol slightly promotes nitrite reductase encoding gene abundance for a short period of time [32,48]. The same phenomenon was found in our previous study: the florfenicol addition to aquatic microcosms suppressed the aquatic denitrifying microbial community diversity but increased the nirS gene abundance, and in addition, the treatment group with lower florfenicol addition induced a marked increase in florfenicol-resistant genes in aquatic environments [31,49]. This may be due to the combined effect of drug and time that some strains carrying nirS genes acquired florfenicol resistance genes and became dominant bacteria under florfenicol stress.…”