Prevalence and proliferation of antibiotic resistance genes in two municipal wastewater treatment plants

Mao, Daqing; Yu, Shuai; Rysz, Michal; Luo, Yi; Yang, Fengxia; Li, Fengxiang; Hou, Jie; Mu, Quanhua; Alvarez, Pedro J. J.

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.09.010

Cited by 490 publications

(245 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…A possible explanation is the formation of biofilm on pipe surfaces and in deposited sediments along the sewer system (Chen, Leung & Hung, 2003), another possibility is that the presence of multiple antibiotics, heavy metals or xenobiotics in wastewater, even at very low concentrations is selecting for A. cryaerophilus , which contains multiple ARGs (Heberer, 2002; Hawkey & Jones, 2009; Gullberg et al, 2014; Jutkina et al, 2016). Similar to our observation, selection for antibiotic resistant bacteria has been described from other wastewater treatment plants (Goñi Urriza et al, 2000; Czekalski et al, 2012; Mao et al, 2015); consequently, constant monitoring of both pre- and post-treatment sewage is warranted because of the risk of reintroducing bacteria replete with ARGs and virulence factors into natural environments (Fahrenfeld et al, 2013; Czekalski, Gasco & Burgmann, 2014; Mao et al, 2015; Pehrsson et al, 2016). …”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Accumulation and expression of multiple antibiotic resistance genes in Arcobacter cryaerophilus that thrives in sewage

Millar

Raghavan

2017

PeerJ

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We explored the bacterial diversity of untreated sewage influent samples of a wastewater treatment plant in Tucson, AZ and discovered that Arcobacter cryaerophilus, an emerging human pathogen of animal origin, was the most dominant bacterium. The other highly prevalent bacteria were members of the phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, which are major constituents of human gut microbiome, indicating that bacteria of human and animal origin intermingle in sewage. By assembling a near-complete genome of A. cryaerophilus, we show that the bacterium has accumulated a large number of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) probably enabling it to thrive in the wastewater. We also determined that a majority of ARGs was being expressed in sewage, suggestive of trace levels of antibiotics or other stresses that could act as a selective force that amplifies multidrug resistant bacteria in municipal sewage. Because all bacteria are not eliminated even after several rounds of wastewater treatment, ARGs in sewage could affect public health due to their potential to contaminate environmental water.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Accumulation and expression of multiple antibiotic resistance genes in Arcobacter cryaerophilus that thrives in sewage

Millar

Raghavan

2017

PeerJ

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“…These factors include plasmid host range (61), sludge retention times (62), stressful environmental conditions (53), and host/donor phylogenetic affiliations (63). Significant enrichment of the ratios of multiple ARGs compared to 16S rRNA genes throughout the wastewater treatment process confirms the potential for mobility and proliferation of ARGs within the activated sludge microbial communities in full-scale treatment systems (64). bla NDM-1 HGT events involving activated sludge microorganisms and soil bacteria had also been reported (8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Fate and Persistence of a Pathogenic NDM-1-Positive Escherichia coli Strain in Anaerobic and Aerobic Sludge Microcosms

Mantilla‐Calderon

Hong

2017

Appl Environ Microbiol

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The presence of emerging biological pollutants in treated wastewater effluents has gained attention due to increased interest in water reuse. To evaluate the effectiveness of the removal of such contaminants by the conventional wastewater treatment process, the fate and decay kinetics of NDM-1-positive Escherichia coli strain PI7 and its plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were assessed in microcosms of anaerobic and aerobic sludge. Results showed that E. coli PI7 decayed at a significantly lower rate under anaerobic conditions. Approximate half-lives were 32.4 ± 1.4 h and 5.9 ± 0.9 h in the anaerobic and aerobic microcosms, respectively. In the aerobic microcosms, after 72 h of operation, E. coli PI7 remained detectable, but no further decay was observed. Instead, 1 in every 10,000 E. coli cells was identified to be recalcitrant to decay and persist indefinitely in the sludge. ARGs associated with the E. coli PI7 strain were detected to have transferred to other native microorganisms in the sludge or were released to the liquid fraction upon host decay. Extracellular DNA quickly degraded in the liquid fraction of the aerobic sludge. In contrast, no DNA decay was detected in the anaerobic sludge water matrix throughout the 24-h sampling period. This study suggests an increased likelihood of environmental dispersion of ARGs associated with anaerobically treated wastewater effluents and highlights the potential importance of persister cells in the dissemination of E. coli in the environment during reuse events of treated wastewater.IMPORTANCE This study examines the decay kinetics of a pathogenic and antibiotic resistant strain of Escherichia coli in microcosms simulating biological treatment units of aerobic and anaerobic sludge. The results of this study point at a significantly prolonged persistence of the E. coli and the associated antibiotic resistance gene in the anaerobic sludge. However, horizontal transfer of the plasmid encoding the antibiotic resistance gene was detected in the aerobic sludge by a cultivation method. A subpopulation of persister E. coli cells was also detected in the aerobic sludge. The findings of this study suggest potential areas of concern arising from pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant E. coli during both anaerobic and aerobic sludge treatment processes.

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“…In addition, sulfonamide (sulI and sulII)), tetracycline (tet(O), tet(T), tet(M), tet(Q), and tet(W), b-lactam (bla OXA-1 , bla OXA-2 , and bla OXA-10 ), and macrolide (ermB) resistance genes were detected based on quantitative PCR analysis in typical pharmaceutical wastewater treatment systems (Zhai et al, 2016). The maximum concentrations of ARGs detected in the final effluents of pharmaceutical WWTPs were up to 3.68 Â 10 6 copies/mL by Wang et al (2015) and 2.36 Â 10 7 copies/mL by Zhai et al (2016), respectively, which were much higher than the concentration in MWTPs as revealed by Mao et al (2015).…”

Section: Medical and Pharmaceutical Wastewatermentioning

confidence: 94%

Biological HRPs in wastewater

Jia

Zhang

2020

High-Risk Pollutants in Wastewater

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Prevalence and proliferation of antibiotic resistance genes in two municipal wastewater treatment plants

Cited by 490 publications

References 64 publications

Accumulation and expression of multiple antibiotic resistance genes in Arcobacter cryaerophilus that thrives in sewage

Accumulation and expression of multiple antibiotic resistance genes in Arcobacter cryaerophilus that thrives in sewage

Fate and Persistence of a Pathogenic NDM-1-Positive Escherichia coli Strain in Anaerobic and Aerobic Sludge Microcosms

Biological HRPs in wastewater

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