Enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes in roots is related to specific bacterial hosts and soil properties in two soil–plant systems

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2023-08, Vol.886, p.163933-163933, Article 163933
• Main Authors: Gao, Yajun, Luo, Wen, Zhang, Haofei, Chen, Yinyuan, Li, Zubing, Wei, Gehong, Chen, Weimin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotic resistance genes; Bacteria - genetics; Drug Resistance, Microbial - genetics; Endophytes; Genes, Bacterial; Horizontal gene transfer; Humans; Microbial community; Relative abundance; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Soil - chemistry; Soil Microbiology; Soil properties
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163933

Soil microorganisms carrying antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) can colonize plants as endophytes, posing a huge risk to human health. However, the distribution and transmission patterns of ARGs in different soil-plant systems are unclear. Here, we investigated the distribution of ARGs and the microbial communities in the soil–wheat and soil–cucumber systems by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed that the relative abundances of seven ARGs and intI1 in roots were higher than those of other samples in both soil–plant systems. Pseudomonas, Enterobacteriaceae, Rhizobiales and Gammaproteobacteria were dominant potential bacterial hosts of endophytic ARGs, with enrichment patterns similar to that of ARGs in roots. In addition, more ARGs were significantly positively correlated with intI1 in roots, indicating that ARGs may be more prone to horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Variation partitioning analysis (VPA) and structural equation models (SEM) revealed that the variations of ARGs were mainly directly affected by the HGT of intI1 and indirectly affected by soil properties in roots. These results demonstrated that root could have a strong proliferative effect on ARGs entering host plant endophytes. Overall, our findings enhanced the understanding distribution patterns of ARGs in different soil–plant systems, and provided an effective basis for developing measures to minimize the spread of ARGs. [Display omitted] •The relative abundances of ARGs were the highest in the wheat and cucumber roots.•Horizontal gene transfer events were more likely to occur in plant roots.•Pseudomonas and Enterobacteriaceae were the main potential hosts of endophytic ARGs.•Soil TN and C:N affected ARGs by influencing the potential bacterial hosts in roots.