Do combined nanoscale polystyrene and tetracycline impact on the incidence of resistance genes and microbial community disturbance in Enchytraeus crypticus?

It has been proved that nanoplastics can effectively adsorb pollutants and thus influence their behavior and availability. The combined toxic effects of nanoplastic and its adsorbed pollutant on the soil fauna are still not well known. We used high-throughput quantitative PCR to explore the effects of oral nanoscale polystyrene and tetracycline exposure on antibiotic resistance genes in the soil invertebrate Enchytraeus crypticus, and used bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplification sequencing to examine the response of the microbiome of E. crypticus. After 14 days of tetracycline and nanoscale polystyrene exposure, we terminated exposure and monitored the restoration of ARGs and microbiome in the E. crypticus. Results showed that the number of ARGs, especially macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB), tetracycline ARGs, as well as multidrug ARGs, increased with exposure to nanoscale polystyrene and tetracycline. The abundance of Aminoglycoside and Beta_Lactamase ARGs in E. crypticus also significantly increased. The exposure significantly perturbed the abundance of families Microbacteriaceae, Streptococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Rhodocyclaceae and Sphinomonadaceae. After terminating exposure for 14 days, the diversity and abundance of ARGs were not completely restored, while the microbiome was not permanently changed but reversibly impacted.