The Interactions Between Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Heavy Metal Pollution Under Co-Selective Pressure Influenced the Bio-Enzyme Activity

Abstract

The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has brought potential risks to public health. However, the interactions between heavy metals and ARGs, as well as their potential effect on bio-enzyme activity under the pressure of co-selectivity in soil still remain poorly understood. In this work, the distribution characteristics and the co-selective relationship of 28 ARGs and eight heavy metals in soil in a dairy farm were visualized via the geographic information system (GIS) technique. Eight kinds of heavy metals were detected by an atomic fluorescence spectrometer and atomic absorption spectrophotometer, which were further evaluated via the single factor pollution index value. The GIS analysis showed that arsenic (As) was the key element responsible for soil pollution, which was found to be positively related to soil depths. The top three comprehensive scores of ARGs ranked the orders of sul2 > tetX > blaTEM, indicating the high potential of risk caused by these genes in the soil environment. In addition, the functional predications performed with the 16 SrDNA sequencing data based on the KEGG database indicated that the sulfonamides in soil involved multiple pathways, especially the metabolism, transport and catabolism, and membrane transport processes. This suggested that most bio-enzymes were found to be expressed in low activities in different pathways. Significant correlations were observed between the heavy metals and ARGs (p < 0.05), particularly between the ARGs and As, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn (p < 0.01). This study offers deep insights into the potential interactions between heavy metals and ARGs in soil and provides guidance for the fabrication of enzyme-based smart materials for soil remediation in dairy farms.

Effects of chronic exposure to arsenic on the fecal carriage of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli among people in rural Bangladesh

“…Bacteria exposed to arsenic-contaminated groundwater may induce or select bacterial adaptations to one or more antibiotics through co-selection of resistance. This is in agreement with previous studies that organisms isolated from extreme environmental conditions such as industrial or agricultural wastewater have shown arsenic-mediated antibiotic resistance in vitro [ 15 , 42 , 53 ]. In a related study, 6 h arsenic exposure [As(III) of 0.2–1 mg/L] in drinking water increased bacterial resistance to cephalosporin, tetracycline, and erythromycin as well as increased the relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in a bacterial community [ 42 ].…”

Genome-resolved metagenomics of Venice Lagoon surface sediment bacteria reveals high biosynthetic potential and metabolic plasticity as successful strategies in an impacted environment

“…Heavy metal pollution is one of the most significant sources of environmental contamination (Roane and Kellogg 1996 ) and represents a long-term selection pressure on microbial communities (Stepanauskas et al 2005 ). Moreover, toxic compounds, including heavy metals, can support and co-select antibiotic resistance through different mechanisms, such as co-resistance, cross-resistance, and co-regulation (Baker-Austin et al 2006 ; Gupta et al 2022 ; Vats et al 2022 ), which may lead to greater diversity and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in the microbial communities (Qi et al 2021 ). The genes related to toxic compounds detected in the MAGs included all categories previously found in the metagenomic dataset (Banchi et al 2021 ), which may indicate a higher prevalence of these features compared to antibiotic resistance ones.…”

Alleviation of phytotoxic effect of heavy metals on wheat by multiple heavy metal tolerant Pseudomonas aeruginosa HMT 7

“…Due to the increased use of antibiotics in agriculture, microorganisms are developing resistance either by natural mutation or by transfer of resistant genes between themselves. Heavy metals along with antibiotics create a selective pressure that help microorganisms to adapt for better survival in multiple stress conditions [25]. Thus, resistance to both heavy metals and antibiotics make P. aeruginosa HMT 7 more ecologically favourable.…”