Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1021/acs.est.3c07664
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Viral communities contribute more to the lysis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than the transduction of antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic digestion revealed by metagenomics
Author Zhang, J.; Lu, T.; Song, Y.; Nunes da Rocha, U.; Liu, J.; Nikolausz, M.; Wei, Y.; Richnow, H.H.
Source Titel Environmental Science & Technology
Year 2024
Department MIBITECH; TECH; AME
Volume 58
Issue 5
Page From 2346
Page To 2359
Language englisch
Topic T7 Bioeconomy
Supplements https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.est.3c07664/suppl_file/es3c07664_si_001.pdf
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.est.3c07664/suppl_file/es3c07664_si_002.xlsx
Keywords phages; anaerobic digestion; antibiotic resistance genes; viral community; metagenomics
Abstract Ecological role of the viral community on the fate of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (reduction vs proliferation) remains unclear in anaerobic digestion (AD). Metagenomics revealed a dominance of Siphoviridae and Podoviridae among 13,895 identified viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) within AD, and only 21 of the vOTUs carried ARGs, which only accounted for 0.57 ± 0.43% of AD antibiotic resistome. Conversely, ARGs locating on plasmids and integrative and conjugative elements accounted for above 61.0%, indicating a substantial potential for conjugation in driving horizontal gene transfer of ARGs within AD. Virus–host prediction based on CRISPR spacer, tRNA, and homology matches indicated that most viruses (80.2%) could not infect across genera. Among 480 high-quality metagenome assembly genomes, 95 carried ARGs and were considered as putative antibiotic-resistant bacteria (pARB). Furthermore, lytic phages of 66 pARBs were identified and devoid of ARGs, and virus/host abundance ratios with an average value of 71.7 indicated extensive viral activity and lysis. The infectivity of lytic phage was also elucidated through laboratory experiments concerning changes of the phage-to-host ratio, pH, and temperature. Although metagenomic evidence for dissemination of ARGs by phage transduction was found, the higher proportion of lytic phages infecting pARBs suggested that the viral community played a greater role in reducing ARB numbers than spreading ARGs in AD.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=28497
Zhang, J., Lu, T., Song, Y., Nunes da Rocha, U., Liu, J., Nikolausz, M., Wei, Y., Richnow, H.H. (2024):
Viral communities contribute more to the lysis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than the transduction of antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic digestion revealed by metagenomics
Environ. Sci. Technol. 58 (5), 2346 - 2359 10.1021/acs.est.3c07664