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Zhu S, Yang B, Wang Z, Liu Y. Augmented dissemination of antibiotic resistance elicited by non-antibiotic factors. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 2023; 262:115124. [PMID: 37327521 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The emergence and rapid spread of antibiotic resistance seriously compromise the clinical efficacy of current antibiotic therapies, representing a serious public health threat worldwide. Generally, drug-susceptible bacteria can acquire antibiotic resistance through genetic mutation or gene transfer, among which horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays a dominant role. It is widely acknowledged that the sub-inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics are the key drivers in promoting the transmission of antibiotic resistance. However, accumulating evidence in recent years has shown that in addition to antibiotics, non-antibiotics can also accelerate the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Nevertheless, the roles and potential mechanisms of non-antibiotic factors in the transmission of ARGs remain largely underestimated. In this review, we depict the four pathways of HGT and their differences, including conjugation, transformation, transduction and vesiduction. We summarize non-antibiotic factors accounting for the enhanced horizontal transfer of ARGs and their underlying molecular mechanisms. Finally, we discuss the limitations and implications of current studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuyao Zhu
- Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Bingqing Yang
- Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Zhiqiang Wang
- Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China; Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, the Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Yuan Liu
- Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China; Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, the Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China; Institute of Comparative Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China.
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2
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Wang X, Du G, Qiao Z, Yang Y, Shi H, Zhang D, Pan X. Environmental concentrations of surfactants as a trigger for climax of horizonal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance. Heliyon 2023; 9:e17034. [PMID: 37484423 PMCID: PMC10361096 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Ubiquitous antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is a significant global human health concern. Surfactants have been extensively used worldwide, and the consumption of surfactants containing hygiene, cleaning agents and disinfectants was multiplied during COVID-19 pandemic, which have caused significantly increased pollution of surfactants in aquatic environment. Whether such ever-increasing surfactant concentration boost dissemination risk of ARGs still remains unknown. Here the effects of three typical surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and benzalkonium chloride on the transformation of pUC19 plasmid (2686 bp)-borne ARGs to recipient bacteria E. coli DH5ɑ were investigated. It was found that these surfactants at environmental concentrations facilitated horizonal gene transfer (HGT) via transformation. The transformation triggering concentrations for the three surfactants were 0.25-0.34 mg/L with a maximum increased transformation frequency of 13.51-22.93-fold. The mechanisms involved in activated HGT of ARGs via transformation triggered by surfactants could be mainly attributed to the increased production of reactive oxygen species, which further enhanced cell membrane permeability. These findings provide new sights for understanding of ARG propagation and also imply that the drastic rise of surfactant concentration in aquatic environment may significantly increase the dissemination risk of antibiotic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaonan Wang
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
- School of Environment Science and Spatial Information, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China
- Key Laboratory of Pollution Exposure and Health Intervention of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310015, China
- Shaoxing Research Institute of Zhejiang University of Technology, Shaoxing, 312000, China
| | - Gaoquan Du
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
| | - Zhuang Qiao
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
| | - Yixuan Yang
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
| | - Huimin Shi
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
| | - Daoyong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
| | - Xiangliang Pan
- Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology for Industrial Pollution Control of Zhejiang Province, College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
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Xu Y, Du H, Wang C, Yue L, Chen F, Wang Z. CeO 2 Nanoparticles-Regulated Plasmid Uptake and Bioavailability for Reducing Transformation of Extracellular Antibiotic Resistance Genes. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2023; 13:969. [PMID: 36985863 PMCID: PMC10053900 DOI: 10.3390/nano13060969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The direct uptake of extracellular DNA (eDNA) via transformation facilitates the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment. CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) have potential in the regulation of conjugation-dominated ARGs propagation, whereas their effects on ARGs transformation remain largely unknown. Here, CeO2 NPs at concentrations lower than 50 mg L-1 have been applied to regulate the transformation of plasmid-borne ARGs to competent Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells. Three types of exposure systems were established to optimize the regulation efficiency. Pre-incubation of competent E. coli cells with CeO2 NPs at 0.5 mg L-1 inhibited the transformation (35.4%) by reducing the ROS content (0.9-fold) and cell membrane permeability (0.9-fold), thereby down-regulating the expression of genes related to DNA uptake and processing (bhsA, ybaV, and nfsB, 0.7-0.8 folds). Importantly, CeO2 NPs exhibited an excellent binding capacity with the plasmids, decreasing the amounts of plasmids available for cellular uptake and down-regulating the gene expression of DNA uptake (bhsA, ybaV, and recJ, 0.6-0.7 folds). Altogether, pre-exposure of plasmids with CeO2 NPs (10 and 25 mg L-1) suppressed the transformation with an efficiency of 44.5-51.6%. This study provides a nano-strategy for controlling the transformation of ARGs, improving our understanding on the mechanisms of nanomaterial-mediated ARGs propagation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yinuo Xu
- Institute of Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, and School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Carbon Reduction Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Hao Du
- Institute of Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, and School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Carbon Reduction Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Chuanxi Wang
- Institute of Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, and School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Carbon Reduction Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Le Yue
- Institute of Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, and School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Carbon Reduction Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Feiran Chen
- Institute of Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, and School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Carbon Reduction Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Zhenyu Wang
- Institute of Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, and School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Carbon Reduction Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
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Lu J, Ding P, Wang Y, Guo J. Antidepressants promote the spread of extracellular antibiotic resistance genes via transformation. ISME Commun 2022; 2:63. [PMID: 37938640 PMCID: PMC9330934 DOI: 10.1038/s43705-022-00147-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The development of antibiotic resistance as an unavoidable consequence of the application of antimicrobials is a significant concern for human health. Antidepressants are being increasingly consumed globally. Human gut microbial communities are frequently exposed to antidepressants, yet little is known about the interaction between antidepressants and antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to investigate whether antidepressants can accelerate the dissemination of antibiotic resistance by increasing the rate of the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Results demonstrated that some of the commonly-prescribed antidepressants (Duloxetine, Sertraline, Fluoxetine and Bupropion) at clinically relevant concentrations can significantly (n = 9; padj < 0.01) promote the transformation of extracellular ARGs into Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 for a maximum of 2.3-fold, which is primarily associated with the overproduction of reactive oxygen species. The increased cell membrane permeability and porosity, stimulated transcription and translation of competence, SOS response, universal stress response and ATP synthesis-related genes are also associated with antidepressants-enhanced transformation. This study demonstrated that some antidepressants can speed up the spread of antibiotic resistance by promoting the transformation of ARGs, which emphasizes the necessity to assess the potential risks of antidepressants in spreading antibiotic resistance during clinical antidepressant applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji Lu
- Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB, formerly AWMC), The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Pengbo Ding
- Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB, formerly AWMC), The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Yue Wang
- Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB, formerly AWMC), The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Jianhua Guo
- Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB, formerly AWMC), The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
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Jin M, Liu L, Wang DN, Yang D, Liu WL, Yin J, Yang ZW, Wang HR, Qiu ZG, Shen ZQ, Shi DY, Li HB, Guo JH, Li JW. Chlorine disinfection promotes the exchange of antibiotic resistance genes across bacterial genera by natural transformation. ISME J 2020; 14:1847-1856. [PMID: 32327733 PMCID: PMC7305130 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-0656-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 140] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2019] [Revised: 03/27/2020] [Accepted: 04/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Chlorine disinfection to drinking water plays an important role in preventing and controlling waterborne disease outbreaks globally. Nevertheless, little is known about why it enriches the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in bacteria after chlorination. Here, ARGs released from killed antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), and culturable chlorine-injured bacteria produced in the chlorination process as the recipient, were investigated to determine their contribution to the horizontal transfer of ARGs during disinfection treatment. We discovered Escherichia coli, Salmonella aberdeen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis showed diverse resistance to sodium hypochlorite, and transferable RP4 could be released from killed sensitive donor consistently. Meanwhile, the survival of chlorine-tolerant injured bacteria with enhanced cell membrane permeabilisation and a strong oxidative stress-response demonstrated that a physiologically competent cell could be transferred by RP4 with an improved transformation frequency of up to 550 times compared with the corresponding untreated bacteria. Furthermore, the water quality factors involving chemical oxygen demand (CODMn), ammonium nitrogen and metal ions (Ca2+ and K+) could significantly promote above transformation frequency of released RP4 into injured E. faecalis. Our findings demonstrated that the chlorination process promoted the horizontal transfer of plasmids by natural transformation, which resulted in the exchange of ARGs across bacterial genera and the emergence of new ARB, as well as the transfer of chlorine-injured opportunistic pathogen from non-ARB to ARB. Considering that the transfer elements were quite resistant to degradation through disinfection, this situation poses a potential risk to public health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Jin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China.
| | - Lu Liu
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Da-Ning Wang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Dong Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Wei-Li Liu
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Jing Yin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Zhong-Wei Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Hua-Ran Wang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Zhi-Gang Qiu
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Zhi-Qiang Shen
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Dan-Yang Shi
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Hai-Bei Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China
| | - Jian-Hua Guo
- Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC), University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Jun-Wen Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No 1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, PR China.
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Wu HY, Shi DY, Yang D, Yin J, Yang ZW, Li JW, Yang W, Jin M. Putative environmental levels of levofloxacin facilitate the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli via plasmid-mediated transformability. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 2020; 195:110461. [PMID: 32182530 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2020] [Revised: 03/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Antibiotic residues in the environment pose a great risk to global public health. They increase antibiotic resistance by enhancing plasmid conjugation among bacteria or mutations within bacterial genomes. However, little is known about whether the putative environmental levels of antibiotics are sufficient to influence plasmid-mediated transformability. In this study, we explored the effect of eight kinds of representative antibiotics and several other compounds on the plasmid transformability of competent Escherichia coli. Only levofloxacin (LEV) at the putative environmental levels was found to facilitate the frequency of PBR322-or RP4-plasmid-mediated transformation by up to 5.3-fold. Additionally, PBR322 transformation frequency could be further enhanced by copper ion or ammonia nitrogen but inhibited by humic acid. However, when competent E. coli was exposed to the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the antibiotics, an enhanced plasmid-assimilation ability was observed and plasmid transformation frequency was increased by up to 98.6-fold for all the tested antibiotics. Furthermore, E. coli exhibited a preference for the uptake of plasmids harbouring the resistance genes to the antibiotics it had been exposed to. Among these antibiotics, cephalexin, tetracycline, and kanamycin induced the highest uptake of RP4. The putative environmental levels of LEV enhanced plasmid transformability regardless of the presence of corresponding antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) on the genetic elements, suggesting environmental LEV residues may facilitate dissemination of antibiotic resistance by any plasmid-mediated transformability, thereby posing a great risk to health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hai-Yan Wu
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China; School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130117, China
| | - Dan-Yang Shi
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Dong Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Jing Yin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Zhong-Wei Yang
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Jun-Wen Li
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China
| | - Wu Yang
- School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130117, China
| | - Min Jin
- Department of Environment and Health, Tianjin Institute of Environmental & Operational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment & Food Safety, No1 Dali Road, Tianjin, 300050, China.
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