Selection of antibiotic resistance genes on biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics

Growing evidence have demonstrated that microplastics in the marine ecosystem can provide novel substrates for biofilm formation, potentially facilitating the spread of antibiotic resistance. However, the occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the biofilm on microplastics has not been fully explored. This study used the metagenomic data of biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics staged at a coastal lagoon in the northern Gulf of Mexico to profile the ARGs and their bacterial hosts. The abundance and Shannon diversity of ARGs on biodegradable poly hydroxy alkanoate (PHA) and non-biodegradable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have no significant differences. Nevertheless, the abundance of multidrug resistance genes on PET (3.05 copies per 16S rRNA) was statistically higher than that on PHA (2.05). Beta diversity showed that the overall pattern of resistome on PHA was significantly distinct with that on PET. Procrustes analysis suggested a good-fit correlation between ARG profiles and bacterial community composition. The host-tracking analysis identified that Pseudomonas was always the major host for glycopeptide and multidrug resistance genes in PET and PHA biofilms, whereas the primary host for macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin (MLS) changed to Desulfovibrio on PET. This study provided the first metagenomic insights into the ARGs and their hosts on biodegradable and nonbiodegradable microplastics, suggesting that both two types of plastics harbor ARGs with preferences.

Automated summary

This study investigates the presence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) on both biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics in a coastal lagoon. The results show that while there were no significant differences in ARG abundance and diversity between the two types of plastics, non-biodegradable PET had a higher abundance of multidrug resistance genes. Host-tracking analysis revealed that different bacterial hosts were responsible for different types of resistance genes on the microplastics.