The Effects of Antibiotics on Microbial Community Composition in an Estuary Reservoir during Spring and Summer Seasons

Abstract

Abstract:The increased antibiotic pollutants in aquatic environments pose severe threats on microbial ecology due to their extensive distribution and antibacterial properties. A total of 16 antibiotics including fluoroquinolones (FQs) (ofloxacin (OFX), ciprofloxacin (CFX), norfloxacin (NFX)), Sulfonamides (SAs) (sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), sulfadiazine (SDZ), sulfaquinoxaline (SQX)), Tetracyclines (TCs) (tetracycline (TC), doxycycline (DC)), β-lactams (penicillin G (PEN G), penicillin V (PEN V), cefalexin (LEX)), Macrolides (MLs) (erythromycin-H 2 O (ETM), tylosin (TYL)) and other antibiotics (Polymix-B (POL), Vancomycin (VAN), Lincomycin (LIN)) were detected in the surface water of the Qingcaosha Reservoir. Multivariate statistical analysis indicated that both water quality and physicochemical indexes have less contributions on variations of these antibiotics, suggesting the concentrations of antibiotics inside the reservoir are mainly affected by upstream runoff and anthropic activity along the river. Antibiotics including TYL, PEN G and ETM showed significant correlations with variations of bacterial community composition, and closely connected with various gram-negative bacteria in co-occurrence/exclusion patterns of the network, suggesting these bacterial taxa play important roles in the course of migration and transformation of related antibiotics. In conclusion, further research is required to evaluate the potential risk of genetic transfer of resistance to related bacteria induced by long-term exposure to low levels of antibiotics in the environment.

Driving Factors and Dynamics of Phytoplankton Community and Functional Groups in an Estuary Reservoir in the Yangtze River, China

“…Qingcaosha Reservoir is in the middle of the Yangtze River estuary and adjacent to a small island (31 • 27 N; 121 • 38 E), built in 2009 and operational in 2010 with a depth range from 2.5 m to 13.5 m, a designed hydraulic retention time of 25 days and an approximation area of 66.27 km 2 [28,29]. The reservoir supplies 10 million inhabitants in Shanghai city with 7 million m 3 drinking water per day.…”

Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance Dissemination in Aquatic Systems

“…This special issue comprises of 11 research articles that fall within the scope of AMR. Broadly, topics extend from AMR monitoring and surveillance in environmental resources and effluents from water/wastewater treatment plants [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], antimicrobial ecological risk assessments of two river reservoir systems in China that are sources of drinking water supply [40,41], and exploring novel strategies of using engineered antimicrobial peptides (AMP) to target specific bacteria to disrupt biofilms that are major causes of chronic and persistent infections [42].…”

“…However, this may present a greater risk for propagation in the environment through transformation and transduction [44]. In another study by Xu et al [34], the authors studied the relationship of 16 antibiotics with environmental water quality parameters and the impact of antibiotic concentrations on the microbial community structure along Qingcaosha Reservoir, the largest estuary reservoir in China. This reservoir has a similar function to the Yellow River, in that it compensates for drinking water shortages in Shanghai.…”

Characteristics of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in Qingcaosha Reservoir in Yangtze River Delta, China

“…In recent years, some studies revealed that the reservoir system could influence the residues and composition of antibiotics exported from the river [27]. Until now, several general studies on antibiotics and ARGs in surface water from the Yangtze estuary were published [20,[28][29][30]. However, information about the spatial and time variation, and a comprehensive understanding about a specific area is still lacking.…”