Distribution patterns of antibiotic resistance genes and their bacterial hosts in pig farm wastewater treatment systems and soil fertilized with pig manure

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2021-03, Vol.758, p.143654-143654, Article 143654
• Main Authors: Zhang, Rong-Min, Liu, Xiao, Wang, Shao-Lin, Fang, Liang-Xing, Sun, Jian, Liu, Ya-Hong, Liao, Xiao-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; ARG; ARG host analysis; Drug Resistance, Microbial - genetics; Farms; Genes, Bacterial; Manure; Pig farm; Soil; Soil Microbiology; Swine; Water Purification
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143654

Vast reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) are discharged into the environment via pig manure. We used metagenomic analysis to follow the distribution and shifts of ARGs and their bacterial hosts along wastewater treatment in three large pig farms. The predominating ARGs potentially encoded resistance to tetracycline (28.13%), aminoglycosides (23.64%), macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin (MLS) (12.17%), sulfonamides (11.53%), multidrug (8.74%) and chloramphenicol (6.18%). The total relative ARG abundance increased along the treatment pathway prior to anaerobic digestion that had a similar degradative capacity for different ARGs and these ARGs were reduced by about 25% after digestion, but ARGs enriched erratically in manured soils. Distinctive ARG distribution patterns were found according to the three sample locations; feces, soil and wastewater and the differences were primarily due to the tetracycline ARGs (feces > wastewater > soil), sulfonamide ARGs (soil > wastewater > feces) and MLS ARGs (feces > wastewater > soil). Metagenomic assembly-based host analyses indicated the Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes were primary ARG carriers. The Streptococcaceae increased the abundance of multidrug, MLS and aminoglycoside ARGs in feces; Moraxellaceae were the primary contributors to the high abundance of multidrug ARGs in wastewater; the Comamonadaceae led to the higher abundance of bacA in wastewater and soil than feces. We found a high level of heterogeneity for both ARGs and ARG-hosts in the wastewater treatment system and in the agricultural soils for these pig farms. [Display omitted] •ARG distribution in pig farm was revealed by metagenomic sequencing.•ARG abundance increased along the treatment pathway prior to anaerobic digestion.•Most ARGs were reduced by three-tenths after digestion.•The feces, wastewater and soil differed in ARG profiles and their bacterial hosts.•The heterogeneous ARG pattern was due to the uneven distribution of the ARG host.