Characteristics of resistome and bacterial community structure in constructed wetland during dormant period: A fullscale study from Annan wetland

• Published in: Ecotoxicology and environmental safety 2022-12, Vol.248, p.114347, Article 114347
• Main Authors: Liu, Linmei, Teng, Yanguo, Chen, Haiyang, Hu, Jingdan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotic resistance genes; Bacterial community structure; Constructed wetland; Dormant period; Metagenomic assembly; Mobile genetic elements; Virulent factors
• ISSN: 0147-6513; 1090-2414
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.114347

As a green technology, constructed wetlands (CWs) can provide a low-cost solution for wastewater treatment. Either as a standalone treatment or integrated with conventional treatment, nutrients, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB)/antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) can be removed by CW efficiently. While, few studies have focused on characteristics of resistome and bacterial community (BC) structure in CW during dormant period. Therefore, in this study, Annan CW (a full-scale hybrid CW) was selected to characterize resistome and BC during dormant period. The profiles of bacteria / ARGs were monitored in combination of shotgun sequencing and metagenomic assembly analysis. And multidrug ARGs are the most abundant in Annan CW, and surface flow wetland had the relatively high ARG diversity and abundance compared with subsurface flow wetland and the front pond. The most dominant phylum in CW is Proteobacteria, while the other dominant phylum in three parts have different order. COD, TP, TN, ARGs, and mobile genetic genes (MGEs) were removed by subsurface flow CW with better performance, but virulent factors (VFs) were removed by surface flow CW with better performance. Based on the spatiotemporal distribution of ARGs, the internal mechanism of ARGs dynamic variation was explored by the redundancy analysis (RDA) and variation partitioning analysis (VPA). BCs, MGEs and environmental factors (EFs) were responsible for 45.6 %, 28.3 % and 15.4 % of the ARGs variations. Among these factors, BCs and MGEs were the major co-drivers impacting the ARG profile, and EFs indirectly influence the ARG profile. This study illustrates the specific functions of ARG risk elimination in different CW components, promotes a better understanding of the efficiency of CWs for the reduction of ARG and ARB, contributing to improve the removal performance of constructed wetlands. And provide management advice to further optimize the operation of CWs during dormant period. [Display omitted] •Full-scale hybrid constructed wetland can remove ARGs and other related emerging pollutants during dormant period.•Subsurface flow CW performs better than surface flow CW in the removal of COD, TP, TN, ARGs, and MGEs.•BCs and MGEs were the major co-drivers impacting the ARG profile, and EFs influence the ARG profile indirectly.•There are ARGs, MGEs, and human pathogens in full-scale CW, which cause potential risk to human beings.