Persistence and spatial variation of antibiotic resistance genes and bacterial populations change in reared shrimp in South China

More attention has been paid to the abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in aquatic environments. However, few studies have investigated the persistence and spatial variation of ARGs in aquatic organisms. This study investigated the occurrence and abundance of ARGs and the bacterial populations in shrimp intestinal tracts during the rearing period in different regions of Guangdong, South China. The results showed that sell, sul2, qnrD, and floR were the predominant ARGs. Compared with those of juvenile shrimp, the total concentrations of ARGs in the intestinal tract of adult shrimp in three shrimp farms were 2.45-3.92 times higher (p < 0.05), and the bacterial populations in the adult shrimp intestinal tract changed considerably. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the abundance of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Verrucomicrobia in Farms A, B, and C, respectively, were strongly positively correlated with the most abundant and predominant genes (sul1 and qnrD for Farm A; floR and sul2 for Farm B; floR and sul2 for Farm C) in the shrimp intestinal tract. The results of this study indicated that ARGs gained persistence in the developmental stages of the reared shrimp. Different phyla of predominant bacteria were responsible for the increase of ARGs abundance in the shrimp intestinal tract in different regions. This study represents a case study of the persistence and spatial variation of ARGs in aquaculture and can be a reference for the determination of harmful impacts of ARGs on food safety and human health.