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Microplastics exacerbate co-occurrence and horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes

Journal of Hazardous Materials 2023 125 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 65 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Xi Yu, Zhenchao Zhou, Xinyi Shuai, Zhenchao Zhou, Zhe Liu, Zhenchao Zhou, Guangshu Zeng, Zhe Liu, Xinyi Shuai, Zejun Lin, Zhe Liu, Zhe Liu, Zhe Liu, Jinyu Zhou, Jinyu Zhou, Zhe Liu, Yanhan Lin, Yanhan Lin, Guangshu Zeng, Guangshu Zeng, Zi-ye Ge, Zi-ye Ge, Hong Chen

Summary

Researchers found that microplastics from a chicken farm and surrounding farmland were significantly associated with antibiotic resistance genes, and that microplastics increased the rate at which bacteria swap resistance genes by 1.4 to 1.7 times. Chicken feces had the highest levels of both microplastics and resistance genes, making farms a hotspot for their combined spread. This is concerning because microplastics may be accelerating the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria through the food system and environment.

Microplastic pollution is a rising environmental issue worldwide. Microplastics can provide a niche for the microbiome, especially for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which could increase the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, the interactions between microplastics and ARGs are still indistinct in environmental settings. Microplastics were found to be significantly correlated with ARGs (p < 0.001), based on the analysis of samples taken from a chicken farm and its surrounding farmlands. Analysis of chicken feces revealed the highest abundance of microplastics (14.9 items/g) and ARGs (6.24 ×10 copies/g), suggesting that chicken farms could be the hotspot for the co-spread of microplastics and ARGs. Conjugative transfer experiments were performed to investigate the effects of microplastic exposure for different concentrations and sizes on the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of ARGs between bacteria. Results showed that the microplastics significantly enhanced the bacterial conjugative transfer frequency by 1.4-1.7 folds indicating that microplastics could aggravate ARG dissemination in the environment. Potential mechanisms related to the up-regulation of rpoS, ompA, ompC, ompF, trbBp, traF, trfAp, traJ, and down-regulation of korA, korB, and trbA were induced by microplastics. These findings highlighted the co-occurrence of microplastics and ARGs in the agricultural environment and the exacerbation of ARGs' prevalence via rising the HGT derived from microplastics.

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