Unveiling the Origins of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Wastewater: A Shotgun Metagenomic Study
AIM: Antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) reservoirs such as wastewaters are critical hot-spots for ARG transfer. It is hypothesized that human pathogens acquire resistance genes from environmental species through such transfer activities. This study aims to investigate the taxonomic origins of ARGs...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213716524003849 |
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| Summary: | AIM: Antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) reservoirs such as wastewaters are critical hot-spots for ARG transfer. It is hypothesized that human pathogens acquire resistance genes from environmental species through such transfer activities. This study aims to investigate the taxonomic origins of ARGs detected in hospital and municipal wastewater metagenomes, thereby assessing the phylogenetic characteristics of ARGs to provide insights into the resistome/mobilome cycle hypotheses. METHODS: Three municipal wastewater and three hospital wastewater metagenomes were sampled biweekly and sequenced using high-throughput sequencing (Illumina NextSeq). All metagenomes were pooled, and de novo genome assembly was performed using the IDBA_UD program. Computational gene estimation of resistance genes was conducted via the DeepARG program. To determine the taxonomic origins of the resistance genes, all genome fragments containing resistance genes were assigned to taxonomic classes using the “kaiju” program. RESULTS: A total of 437 resistance genes were detected in hospital wastewater and 583 in municipal wastewater. Taxonomic assignment of these genes revealed that ARGs are primarily harbored by environmental species in municipal wastewaters, while potentially pathogenic taxa are the main contributors in hospital wastewater (Table 1). CONCLUSION: The findings from this metagenomic study support the hypothesis that ARGs are mainly harbored by environmental species in gene transfer hot-spots. This suggests that human pathogens might acquire their antibiotic resistance characteristics through horizontal transfer of ARGs from these environmental reservoirs. |
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| ISSN: | 2213-7165 |