Different microplastics distinctively enriched the antibiotic resistance genes in anaerobic sludge digestion through shifting specific hosts and promoting horizontal gene flow

Both microplastics (MPs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are intensively detected in waste activated sludge (WAS). However, the distinctive impacts of different MPs on ARGs emergence, dissemination, and its potential mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, long-term semi-continuous digesters were performed to examine the profiles of ARGs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in response to two different typical MPs (polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)) in anaerobic sludge digestion. Metagenomic results show that PE-and PVC-MPs increase ARGs abundance by 14.8% and 23.6% in digester, respectively. ARB are also enriched by PE-and PVC-MPs, Acinetobacter sp. and Salmonella sp. are the dominant ARB. Further exploration reveals that PVC-MPs stimulates the acquisition of ARGs by human pathogen bacteria (HPB) and functional microorganisms (FMs), but PE-MPs doesn't. Network analysis shows that more ARGs tend to co-occur with HBP and FMs after MPs exposure, and more importantly, new bacteria are observed to acquire ARGs possibly via horizontal gene flow (HGF) in MPs-stressed digester. The genes involved in the HGF process, including reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, cell membrane permeability, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secretion, and ATP synthesis, are also enhanced by MPs, thereby attributing to the promoted ARGs dissemination. These findings offer advanced insights into the distinctive contribution of MPs to fate, host, dissemination of ARGs in anaerobic sludge digestion.

Automated summary

This study reveals that polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) microplastics (MPs) have different impacts on the abundance and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in anaerobic sludge digestion. PVC MPs promote the acquisition of ARGs by human pathogen bacteria and functional microorganisms, while PE MPs do not. Horizontal gene flow (HGF) is observed to be a possible mechanism for new bacteria to acquire ARGs in MPs-stressed digester.