Evolution of microbial community and antibiotic resistance genes in anammox process stressed by oxytetracycline and copper

Environmental stressors altered the groundwater microbiome and nitrogen cycling: A focus on influencing mechanisms and pathways

Nitrogen cycling, as an important biogeochemical process in groundwater, strongly impacts the energy and matter flow of groundwater ecology. Phthalate esters (PAEs) were screened as key environmental stressors in the groundwater of Beijing, contributing to the alteration of microbial community structure and functions; thus, it could be deduced that these stressors might influence nitrogen cycling that is almost exclusively mediated by microorganisms. Identification of the influences of PAEs on groundwater nitrogen cycling and exploration of the potential influence mechanisms and pathways are vital but still challenging. This study explored the influence mechanisms and pathways of the environmental stressor PAE on nitrogen cycling in groundwater collected from a typical monitoring station in Beijing based on high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis combined with mediation analysis methods. The results suggested that among the 5 detected PAEs, dimethyl phthalate and diethyl phthalate significantly negatively impacted nitrogen cycling processes, especially nitrogen fixation and denitrification processes (p < 0.05), in groundwater. Their influences were fully or partially mediated by functional microorganisms, particularly assigned keystone genera (such as Dechloromonas, Aeromonas and Noviherbaspirillum), whose abundance was significantly inhibited by these PAEs via dysregulation of carbohydrate metabolism and activation of defense mechanisms. These findings confirmed that the influences of environmental stressors PAEs on nitrogen cycling in groundwater might be mediated by the "PAE stress-groundwater microbiome-nitrogen cycling alteration" pathway. This study may advance the understanding of the consequences of environmental stressors on groundwater ecology and support the ecological hazard assessment of groundwater stressors.

Simultaneous removal of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals from aqueous phase via adsorptive strategy: A critical review

The coexistence of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals is regarded as a serious threat to aquatic environments. Adsorbents have been widely applied to the simultaneous removal of pharmaceuticals and metals from aqueous phase. Through a comprehensive review, behaviors that promote, inhibit, or have no effect on simultaneous adsorption of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals were found to depend on the system of contaminants and adsorbents and their environmental conditions, such as: characteristics of adsorbent and pollutant, temperature, pH, inorganic ions, and natural organic matter. Bridging and competition effects are the main reasons for promoting and inhibiting adsorption in coexisting systems, respectively. The promotion is more significant in neutral or alkaline conditions. After simultaneous adsorption, a solvent elution approach was most commonly used for regeneration of saturated adsorbents. To conclude, this work could help to sort out the theoretical knowledge in this field, and may provide new insights into the prevention and control of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals coexisting in wastewater.

Copper in cancer: From pathogenesis to therapy

One of the basic trace elements for the structure and metabolism of human tissue is copper. However, as a heavy metal, excessive intake or abnormal accumulation of copper in the body can cause inevitable damage to the organism because copper can result in direct injury to various cell components or disruption of the redox balance, eventually leading to cell death. Interestingly, a growing body of research reports that diverse cancers have raised serum and tumor copper levels. Tumor cells depend on more copper for their metabolism than normal cells, and a decrease in copper or copper overload can have a detrimental effect on tumor cells. New modalities for identifying and characterizing copper-dependent signals offer translational opportunities for tumor therapy, but their mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, this article summarizes what we currently know about the correlation between copper and cancer and describes the characteristics of copper metabolism in tumor cells and the prospective application of copper-derived therapeutics.

Structure, mechanism, and toxicity in antibiotics metal complexation: Recent advances and perspectives

Antibiotic-metal complexes (AMCs) formed by antibiotics and metal ions have attracted considerable attentions in recent years. Although different removal methods for AMCs have been reported in the literature, very few investigations have focused on the mechanisms and toxic effects of antibiotic-metal coordination. This review briefly describes the structural characteristics of various commonly used antibiotics and the coordination mechanisms with metal ions. Considering the complexity of the real environment, various environmental factors affecting AMC formation are highlighted. The effects of AMCs on microbial community structure and the role of metal ions in influencing resistant genes from the molecular perspective are of interest within this work. The toxicities and mechanisms of AMCs on different species of biota are also discussed. These findings underline the need for more targeted detection and analysis methods and more suitable toxicity markers to verify the combination of antibiotics with metal ions and reveal environmental toxicities in future. This review presents an innovative idea that antibiotics combined with metal ions will change the toxicity and environmental behavior of antibiotics.

Removal of Copper(II) from Aqueous Environment Using Silk Sericin-Derived Carbon

Sericin is a by-product of the silk industry. Its recycling contributes to environmental protection and the sustainable development of the cocoon silk industry. In this paper, on the basis of realizing sericin enrichment in solution, the Cu(II) adsorption capacities of sericin-derived carbon (SC), prepared at different pyrolysis temperatures, were studied. SC was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the zeta potential. The effects of the initial concentration of Cu(II), pH, adsorption temperature, and contact time on the adsorption process were evaluated, followed by an investigation of the mechanism of Cu(II) adsorption by SC. The results showed that SC has a porous structure that provides sites for Cu(II) adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity of Cu(II) onto SC1050, 17.97 mg/g, was obtained at an adsorption temperature of 35 °C and a pH of 5.5. In addition, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model correctly described the adsorption process of Cu(II) onto SC1050. Therefore, SC can act as a potential adsorbent for removing Cu(II) from water. This study helps promote the effective use of cocoon silk resources.

Deciphering response effect and underlying mechanism of anammox-based nitrogen removal process under exposures to different antibiotics via big data analysis

Recently, little research has been devoted to the systematic investigation regarding the effect of different antibiotics on anammox-based system and its underlying mechanism. In this study, a critical inhibition concentration to the anammox-based system was obtained: 2, 0.5 and 5 mg/L for OTC, TC and SM, respectively. However, SPM had no significant inhibition. Furthermore, Exp model and Monod model were capable to describe the inhibition period, while Gauss model was suitable for the recovery period. A universal machine learning model could accurately predict the NRR (R² over 0.9), especially when biomass information data was introduced. As a qualitative analysis, the inhibition effect of TC and OTC was strongest. The abundance of nitrogen functional genes was negatively correlated with antibiotics, while antibiotic resistance genes showed the opposite trend. Overall, the inhibition ratios of OTC, TC, SPM and SM on anammox process were calculated to be 91%, 82%, 50% and 30%, respectively.

Effects of different oxygen conditions on pollutants removal and the abundances of tetracycline resistance genes in activated sludge systems

The individual and combined effects of tetracycline (TC) and divalent copper (Cu²⁺) on the performance of activated sludge systems and the abundances of tetracycline resistance genes (TRGs) in activated sludge, under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, were studied. Activated sludge systems received TC (0.2 mg L^-1) and Cu²⁺ (5 mg L^-1) separately or jointly under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. The addition of TC did not affect the performance of activated sludge systems and the addition of Cu²⁺ and mixed TC/Cu²⁺ inhibited biological phosphorus removal. The TC removal efficiencies in systems under aerobic and anaerobic conditions were 98.4%-99.7% and 96.8%-99.9%, respectively, and Cu²⁺ promoted TC removal in activated sludge systems. The TC degradation product was 4-epitetracycline (ETC) in activated sludge systems under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The total relative abundances of TRGs (tetA, tetC, tetE, tetM, tetO, tetW, tetX and tetB(P)) in activated sludge showed opposite development trends under the two oxygen conditions and aerobic condition was beneficial to the attenuation of high-risk TRGs. The results of this study might improve evaluation of the combined effects of antibiotics and heavy metals on wastewater biological treatment systems.

Effects of pharmaceuticals on the nitrogen cycle in water and soil: a review

The effects of pharmaceuticals on the nitrogen cycle in water and soil have recently become an increasingly important issue for environmental research. However, a few studies have investigated the direct effects of pharmaceuticals on the nitrogen cycle in water and soil. Pharmaceuticals can contribute to inhibition and stimulation of nitrogen cycle processes in the environment. Some pharmaceuticals have no observable effect on the nitrogen cycle in water and soil while others appeared to inhibit or stimulate for it. This review reports on the most recent evidence of effects of pharmaceuticals on the nitrogen cycle processes by examination of the potential impact of pharmaceuticals on nitrogen fixation, nitrification, ammonification, denitrification, and anammox. Research studies have identified pharmaceuticals that can either inhibit or stimulate nitrification, ammonification, denitrification, and anammox. Among these, amoxicillin, chlortetracycline, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, enrofloxacin, erythromycin, narasin, norfloxacin, and sulfamethazine had the most significant effects on nitrogen cycle processes. This review also clearly demonstrates that some nitrogen transformation processes such as nitrification show much higher sensitivity to the presence of pharmaceuticals than other nitrogen transformations or flows such as mineralization or ammonia volatilization. We conclude by suggesting that future studies take a more comprehensive approach to report on pharmaceuticals' impact on the nitrogen cycle process.

Inhibition of wastewater pollutants on the anammox process: A review

The anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process has been recognized as an efficient nitrogen removal technology. However, anammox bacteria are susceptible to surrounding environments and different pollutants, which limits the extensive application of the anammox process worldwide. Numerous researchers investigate the effects of various pollutants on the anammox process or bacteria, and related findings have also been reviewed with the focused on their inhibitory effects on process performance and microbial community. This review systemically summarized the recent advances in the inhibition, mechanism and recovery process of traditional and emerging pollutants on the anammox process over a decade, such as organics, metals, antibiotics, nanoparticles, etc. Generally, low-concentration pollutants exhibited a promotion on the anammox activity, while high-concentration pollutants showed inhibitory effects. The inhibitory threshold concentration of different pollutants varied. The combined effects of multipollutant also attracts more attentions, including synergistic, antagonistic and independent effects. Additionally, remaining problems and research needs are further proposed. This review provides a foundation for future research on the inhibition in anammox process, and promotes the proper operation of anammox processes treating different types of wastewaters.

Application of electric fields to mitigate inhibition on anammox consortia under long-term tetracycline stress

The feasibility of applying electric fields to mitigate inhibition of tetracycline (TC) on anammox process and improve system stability was evaluated in this study. Three electric field intensities of 1, 3 and a variable intensity of 1-6 V (VEF) were used to optimize electric field intensity under gradually increasing addition of TC (0.5, 2 and 10 mg L^-1). Results showed that the application of electric fields (3 V and VEF) could improve TC tolerance and keep relatively high-efficiency nitrogen removal performance, especially at TC ≥ 2 mg L^-1. Furthermore, applying electric fields contributed to mitigate irreversible inhibition and improve the stability of community structure. Underlying mechanism analysis indicated that the main mechanism of applying electric fields to mitigate inhibition relies on sludge structure strengthening. This study explored a novel strategy to reduce the inhibition of antibiotics on microbial denitrification and broaden the application of anammox in industrial water treatment.

How anammox responds to the emerging contaminants: Status and mechanisms

Numerous researches have been carried out to study the effects of emerging contaminants in wastewater, such as antibiotics, nanomaterials, heavy metals, and microplastics, on the anammox process. However, they are fragmented and difficult to provide a comprehensive understanding of their effects on reactor performance and the metabolic mechanisms in anammox bacteria. Therefore, this paper overviews the effects on anammox processes by the introduced emerging contaminants in the past years to fulfill such knowledge gaps that affect our perception of the inhibitory mechanisms and limit the optimization of the anammox process. In detail, their effects on anammox processes from the aspects of reactor performance, microbial community, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and functional genes related to anammox and nitrogen transformation in anammox consortia are summarized. Furthermore, the metabolic mechanisms causing the cell death of anammox bacteria, such as induction of reactive oxygen species, limitation of substrates diffusion, and membrane binding are proposed. By offering this review, the remaining research gaps are identified, and the potential metabolic mechanisms in anammox consortia are highlighted.

Characteristics, adsorption behaviors, Cu(II) adsorption mechanisms by cow manure biochar derived at various pyrolysis temperatures

With the aims of exploring the effectiveness of Cu(II) adsorption performed by cow manure biochars (CMBCs) for the treatment and recycling of livestock wastes, the physicochemical characteristics and Cu(II) adsorption behaviors of CMBCs at various pyrolysis temperatures (T) were analyzed. CMBCs displayed surface heterogeneity and the dominant Cu(II) adsorption reactions were chemical adsorption, including mineral co-precipitation and cations exchange, was account for 93.75% - 97.01% of the adsorption contribution. Pearson correlation analysis and quantitative analysis showed that the adsorption capacity of co-precipitation (Q_cp) and cations exchange (Q_ci) were significantly positively correlated with ash content and cations exchange capacity (p < 0.01), respectively. The quantitative relationships between total adsorption capacity (Q_t), Q_cp or Q_ci and T are Q_t = 54.01 + 0.39exp(0.0051 T), Q_cp = 71.80-101.91exp(-0.0024 T), Q_ci = 12.25 + 311.73exp(-0.0093 T) and Q_t = 0.93 Q_ci + 0.91 Q_cp + 7.70.

Insight into the evolution of microbial community and antibiotic resistance genes in anammox process induced by copper after recovery from oxytetracycline stress

The influence of copper ion (Cu²⁺) on anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) performance and microbial community structures after oxytetracycline (OTC) stress recovery were assessed. Experimental results demonstrated that anammox performance were stressed by 1.0 mg L^-1 Cu²⁺ and inhibitions were reversible with total nitrogen removal rate higher than 3.08 ± 0.2 kg N m^-3 d^-1. The residual OTC in the anammox sludge could combine with Cu²⁺ introduced and thereby retarded inhibition on performance in the presence of 2.0 mg L^-1 Cu²⁺. Moreover, the positive relation of dominant bacterium Ca. Anammoxoglobus with the abundance of functional genes and parts of antibiotic resistance genes were observed, suggesting that regain of performance was the results of the gradual domestication of latent resistant species after inhibition. This investigation reveals new insights into resistance of anammox performance for Cu²⁺ and OTC.

Response of anammox granules to the simultaneous exposure to macrolide and aminoglycoside antibiotics: Linking performance to mechanism

Antibiotic pollution is becoming increasingly severe due to its extensive use. The potential application of the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process in the treatment of wastewater containing antibiotics has attracted much attention. As common antibiotics, spiramycin (SPM) and streptomycin (STM) are widely used to treat human and animal diseases. However, their combined effects on the anammox process remain unknown. Therefore, this study systematically evaluated the response of the anammox process to both antibiotics. The half maximal inhibitory concentrations of SPM and STM were determined. The continuous-flow anammox system could adapt to SPM and STM at low concentrations, while antibiotics at high concentrations exhibited inhibitory effects. When the concentrations reached 5 mg L^-1 SPM and 50 mg L^-1 STM, the nitrogen removal efficiency dramatically decreased and then rapidly recovered within 8 days. Correspondingly, the abundances of dominant bacteria and genes also changed with antibiotic concentrations. In general, the anammox process showed a stable performance and a high resistance to SPM and STM, suggesting that acclimatization by elevating the concentrations was beneficial for the anammox process to obtain resistance to different antibiotics with high concentrations. This study provides guidance for the stable operation of anammox-based biological treatment of antibiotics containing wastewater.

Antibiotics in wastewater: From its occurrence to the biological removal by environmentally conscious technologies

In this critical review, we explored the most recent advances about the fate of antibiotics on biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Although the occurrence of these pollutants in wastewater and natural streams has been investigated previously, some recent publications still expose the need to improve the detection strategies and the lack of information about their transformation products. The role of the antibiotic properties and the process operating conditions were also analyzed. The pieces of evidence in the literature associate several molecular properties to the antibiotic removal pathway, like hydrophobicity, chemical structure, and electrostatic interactions. Nonetheless, the influence of operating conditions is still unclear, and solid retention time stands out as a key factor. Additionally, the efficiencies and pathways of antibiotic removals on conventional (activated sludge, membrane bioreactor, anaerobic digestion, and nitrogen removal) and emerging bioprocesses (bioelectrochemical systems, fungi, and enzymes) were assessed, and our concern about potential research gaps was raised. The combination of different bioprocess can efficiently mitigate the impacts generated by these pollutants. Thus, to plan and design a process to remove and mineralize antibiotics from wastewater, all aspects must be addressed, the pollutant and process characteristics and how it is the best way to operate it to reduce the impact of antibiotics in the environment.