Microplastic biofilms promote the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in estuarine environments.

IF 3 3区环境科学与生态学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Marine environmental research Pub Date : 2024-10-03 DOI:10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106777

Yangyuan Zhou, Guosheng Zhang, Dawei Zhang, Ningzheng Zhu, Jinpei Bo, Xiangzhou Meng, Yao Chen, Yu Qin, Huajie Liu, Weiying Li

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Abstract

As emerging pollutants, microplastics can aggregate microorganisms on their surfaces and form biofilms, enriching antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Consequently, microplastic biofilms have become a focal point of research. Horizontal gene transfer is one of the primary mechanisms by which bacteria acquire antibiotic resistance, with much of the research focusing on suspended bacteria. However, microplastic biofilms, as hotspots for horizontal gene transfer, also merit significant investigation. This study primarily explored and compared the frequency of ARG conjugative transfer between suspended bacteria and microplastic biofilms. The results demonstrated that, compared to suspended bacteria, microplastic biofilms enhanced the frequency of ARG conjugative transfer by 7.2-19.6 times. Among them, biofilms on polyethylene microplastics showed the strongest promotion of conjugation. After the formation of microplastic biofilms, there was a significant increase in bacterial density within the biofilms, which raised the collision frequency of donor and recipient bacteria. Then microplastic biofilms facilitated the gene expression levels of outer membrane proteins, enhanced bacterial gene transfer capabilities, promoted the synthesis of conjugative pili, accelerated the formation of conjugative pairing systems, and elevated the expression levels of genes related to DNA replication and transfer systems, thereby enhancing the conjugative transfer of ARGs within microplastic biofilms. Among different types of microplastic biofilms, polyethylene biofilms exhibited the highest bacterial density, thus showing the highest frequency of ARG conjugation. This study highlights the risks associated with ARG conjugative transfer following the formation of microplastic biofilms and provides insights into the risks of microplastic and antibiotic resistance propagation in estuarine environments.

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微塑料生物膜促进了河口环境中抗生素抗性基因的水平转移。

作为一种新出现的污染物，微塑料可在其表面聚集微生物并形成生物膜，从而富集抗生素耐药细菌（ARB）和抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）。因此，微塑料生物膜已成为研究的焦点。横向基因转移是细菌获得抗生素耐药性的主要机制之一，大部分研究都集中在悬浮细菌上。然而，微塑料生物膜作为水平基因转移的热点，也值得进行深入研究。本研究主要探讨和比较了悬浮细菌和微塑料生物膜之间 ARG 共轭转移的频率。结果表明，与悬浮细菌相比，微塑料生物膜的 ARG 共轭转移频率提高了 7.2-19.6 倍。其中，聚乙烯微塑料上的生物膜对共轭转移的促进作用最强。微塑料生物膜形成后，生物膜内的细菌密度显著增加，从而提高了供体菌和受体菌的碰撞频率。然后，微塑料生物膜促进了外膜蛋白的基因表达水平，增强了细菌基因转移能力，促进了共轭绒毛的合成，加速了共轭配对系统的形成，提高了DNA复制和转移系统相关基因的表达水平，从而增强了微塑料生物膜内ARGs的共轭转移。在不同类型的微塑料生物膜中，聚乙烯生物膜的细菌密度最高，因此显示出最高的 ARG 共轭频率。这项研究强调了微塑料生物膜形成后与 ARG 共轭转移相关的风险，并对河口环境中微塑料和抗生素耐药性传播的风险提供了见解。

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来源期刊

Marine environmental research 环境科学-毒理学

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

3.00%

发文量

217

审稿时长

46 days

期刊介绍： Marine Environmental Research publishes original research papers on chemical, physical, and biological interactions in the oceans and coastal waters. The journal serves as a forum for new information on biology, chemistry, and toxicology and syntheses that advance understanding of marine environmental processes. Submission of multidisciplinary studies is encouraged. Studies that utilize experimental approaches to clarify the roles of anthropogenic and natural causes of changes in marine ecosystems are especially welcome, as are those studies that represent new developments of a theoretical or conceptual aspect of marine science. All papers published in this journal are reviewed by qualified peers prior to acceptance and publication. Examples of topics considered to be appropriate for the journal include, but are not limited to, the following: – The extent, persistence, and consequences of change and the recovery from such change in natural marine systems – The biochemical, physiological, and ecological consequences of contaminants to marine organisms and ecosystems – The biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthropogenic substances – Models that describe and predict the above processes – Monitoring studies, to the extent that their results provide new information on functional processes – Methodological papers describing improved quantitative techniques for the marine sciences.