Bioavailability of potentially toxic elements influences antibiotic resistance gene and mobile genetic element abundances in urban and rural soils
Robins, Katie and McCann, Clare M. and Zhou, Xin-Yuan and Su, Jian-Qiang and Cooke, Martin and Knapp, Charles W. and Graham, David W. (2022) Bioavailability of potentially toxic elements influences antibiotic resistance gene and mobile genetic element abundances in urban and rural soils. Science of the Total Environment, 847. 157512. ISSN 1879-1026 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157512)
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Abstract
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that can encode resistance traits in bacteria are found across the environment. While it is often difficult to discern their origin, their prevalence and diversity depends on many factors, one of which is their exposure to potentially toxic elements (PTE, i.e., metals and metalloids) in soils. Here, we investigated how ambient ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) relate to the relative bioavailability of different PTEs (total versus exchangeable and carbonate-bound PTE) in rural and urban soils in northeast England. The average relative abundances of ARGs in rural sites varied over a 3-log range (7.24 × 10 −7 to 1.0 × 10 −4 genes/16S rRNA), and relative ARG abundances in urban sites varied by four orders of magnitude (1.75 × 10 −6 to 2.85 × 10 −2 genes/16S rRNA). While beta-lactam and aminoglycoside resistance genes dominated rural and urban sites, respectively, non-specific ARGs, also called multidrug-resistance genes, were significantly more abundant in urban sites (p < 0.05). Urban sites also had higher concentrations of total and exchangeable forms of PTE than rural sites, whereas rural sites were higher in carbonate-bound forms. Significant positive Spearman correlations between PTEs, ARGs and MGEs were apparent, especially with bioavailable PTE fractions and at urban sites. This study found significant positive correlations between ARGs and beryllium (Be), which has not previously been reported. Overall, our results show that PTE bioavailability is important in explaining the relative selection of ARGs in soil settings and must be considered in future co-selection and ARG exposure studies.
ORCID iDs
Robins, Katie, McCann, Clare M., Zhou, Xin-Yuan, Su, Jian-Qiang, Cooke, Martin, Knapp, Charles W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7997-8543 and Graham, David W.;-
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Item type: Article ID code: 81730 Dates: DateEvent15 November 2022Published22 July 2022Published Online15 July 2022AcceptedSubjects: Technology > Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) Department: Faculty of Engineering > Civil and Environmental Engineering Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 04 Aug 2022 15:29 Last modified: 10 Oct 2024 06:42 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/81730