Metagenomic profiling of antibiotic resistance genes and their associations with bacterial community during multiple disinfection regimes in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant

• Published in: Water research (Oxford) Vol. 176; p. 115721
• Main Authors: Jia, Shuyu, Bian, Kaiqin, Shi, Peng, Ye, Lin, Liu, Chang-Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2020
• Subjects: Aeromonadaceae; Anti-Bacterial Agents; antibiotic resistance; Antibiotic resistance genes; bacitracin; bacterial communities; Bacterial community shift; chlorine; Disinfection; Disinfection strategy; Drinking Water; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Fusobacteriales; Genes, Bacterial; High-throughput sequencing; metagenomics; ozone; Pseudomonas; water; Water Purification; Drinking water; Disinfection strategy; High-throughput sequencing; Antibiotic resistance genes; Bacterial community shift
• ISSN: 0043-1354; 1879-2448; 1879-2448
• DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115721

For comprehensive insights into the effects of multiple disinfection regimes on antibiotic resistome in drinking water, this study utilized metagenomic approaches to reveal the changing patterns of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and bacterial community as well as their associations. A total of 297 ARGs within 17 types were detected in the drinking water, and their total relative abundance ranged from 195.49 ± 24.85 to 626.31 ± 38.61 copies of ARGs per cell. The total ARG abundance was significantly increased after the antimicrobial resin and ultraviolet (AR/UV) disinfection while significantly decreased after the ozone and chlorine (O3/Cl2) disinfection and remained stable after AR/Cl2 disinfection. Overall, 18 ARGs including bacA, mexT, and blaOXA-12, mainly affiliated to bacitracin, multidrug, and beta-lactam, were persistent and discriminative during all the disinfection strategies in drinking water, and they were considered as key ARGs that represent the antibiotic resistome during drinking water disinfection. Additionally, possible hosts of 50% key ARGs were revealed based on co-occurrence network. During multiple disinfection processes, the change of Fusobacteriales and Aeromonadaceae in abundance mainly contributed to the abundance shift of bacA, and Pseudomonas mainly increased the abundance of mexT. These findings indicated that bacterial community shift may be the key factor driving the change of antibiotic resistome during disinfection. The strong association between antibiotic resistome alteration and bacterial community shift proposed in this study may enhance our understanding of the underlying mechanism of the disinfection effects on antibiotic resistance and benefit effective measures to improve safety of drinking water. [Display omitted] •ARGs within bacitracin, multidrug, and beta-lactam were dominant in drinking water.•ARG abundance significantly elevated after AR/UV while decreased after O3/Cl2 unit.•Persistent ARGs accounted for the majority of total ARGs during disinfection.•Bacterial communities shifted significantly after multiple disinfection strategies.•Fate of ARGs may relate to the survival ability of corresponding bacterial hosts.