Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1128/spectrum.02918-23
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Genome-centric analyses of 165 metagenomes show that mobile genetic elements are crucial for the transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes to pathogens in activated sludge and wastewater
Author Abdulkadir, N.; Saraiva, J.P.; Zhang, J.; Stolte, S.; Gillor, O.; Harms, H.; Nunes da Rocha, U.
Source Titel Microbiology Spectrum
Year 2024
Department TECH; AME
Volume 12
Issue 3
Page From e02918-23
Language englisch
Topic T7 Bioeconomy
Supplements https://journals.asm.org/doi/suppl/10.1128/spectrum.02918-23/suppl_file/reviewer-comments.pdf
https://journals.asm.org/doi/suppl/10.1128/spectrum.02918-23/suppl_file/spectrum.02918-23-s0001.pdf
https://journals.asm.org/doi/suppl/10.1128/spectrum.02918-23/suppl_file/spectrum.02918-23-s0002.pdf
https://journals.asm.org/doi/suppl/10.1128/spectrum.02918-23/suppl_file/spectrum.02918-23-s0003.xlsx
https://journals.asm.org/doi/suppl/10.1128/spectrum.02918-23/suppl_file/spectrum.02918-23-s0004.pdf
https://journals.asm.org/doi/suppl/10.1128/spectrum.02918-23/suppl_file/spectrum.02918-23-s0005.xlsx
Keywords antimicrobial resistance genes; metagenome-assembled genomes; mobile genetic elements; wastewater; activated sludge; pathogens; resistome
Abstract Wastewater is considered a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), where the abundant antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and mobile genetic elements facilitate horizontal gene transfer. However, the prevalence and extent of these phenomena in different taxonomic groups that inhabit wastewater are still not fully understood. Here, we determined the presence of ARGs in metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and evaluated the risks of MAG-carrying ARGs in potential human pathogens. The potential of these ARGs to be transmitted horizontally or vertically was also determined. A total of 5,916 MAGs (completeness >50%, contamination <10%) were recovered, covering 68 phyla and 279 genera. MAGs were dereplicated into 1,204 genome operational taxonomic units (gOTUs) as a proxy for species ( average nucleotide identity >0.95). The dominant ARG classes detected were bacitracin, multi-drug, macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin (MLS), glycopeptide, and aminoglycoside, and 10.26% of them were located on plasmids. The main hosts of ARGs belonged to Escherichia, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Gresbergeria, Mycobacterium, and Thauera. Our data showed that 253 MAGs carried virulence factor genes (VFGs) divided into 44 gOTUs, of which 45 MAGs were carriers of ARGs, indicating that potential human pathogens carried ARGs. Alarmingly, the MAG assigned as Escherichia coli contained 159 VFGs, of which 95 were located on chromosomes and 10 on plasmids. In addition to shedding light on the prevalence of ARGs in individual genomes recovered from activated sludge and wastewater, our study demonstrates a workflow that can identify antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in complex microbial communities.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=28446
Abdulkadir, N., Saraiva, J.P., Zhang, J., Stolte, S., Gillor, O., Harms, H., Nunes da Rocha, U. (2024):
Genome-centric analyses of 165 metagenomes show that mobile genetic elements are crucial for the transmission of antimicrobial resistance genes to pathogens in activated sludge and wastewater
Microbiol. Spectr. 12 (3), e02918-23 10.1128/spectrum.02918-23