Tolerance of soil bacterial community to tetracycline antibiotics induced by As, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, and Pb pollution

The widespread use of both heavy metals and antibiotics in livestock farming, followed by their subsequent arrival on agricultural soils through manure and slurry spreading, has become a problem of vital importance for human health and the environment. In the current research, a laboratory experiment was carried out for 42 d to study tolerance and co-tolerance of three tetracycline antibiotics (tetracycline, TC; oxytetracycline, OTC; chlortetracycline, CTC) in soils polluted with heavy metals (As, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, and Pb) at high concentrations (1000 mg kg 1 of each one, separately). Pollution induced community tolerance (PICT) of the bacterial community was estimated using the leucine incorporation technique. The log IC50 (logarithm of the concentration causing 50% inhibition in bacterial community growth) values obtained in uncontaminated soil samples for all the heavy metals tested showed the following toxicity sequence: Cu > As > Cr >= Pb >= Cd > Zn > Ni. However, in polluted soil samples the toxicity sequence was Cu > Pb >= As >= Cd >= Cr >= Ni >= Zn. Moreover, at high heavy metal concentrations, the bacterial communities showed tolerance to the metal itself, this taking place in the long term for all the metals tested. The bacterial communities of the soil polluted with heavy metals showed also long-term co-tolerance to TC, OTC, and CTC. This kind of study, focusing on the eventual increases of tolerance and co-tolerance of bacterial communities in agricultural soil, favored by the presence of different kinds of pollutants, is of crucial importance, mostly bearing in mind that the appearance of antibiotic resistance genes in soil bacteria could be transmitted to human pathogens.

Automated summary

The widespread use of heavy metals and antibiotics in livestock farming and their subsequent presence in agricultural soils pose significant problems for human health and the environment. This study investigated the tolerance and co-tolerance of bacterial communities in soils polluted with heavy metals and antibiotics. The findings suggest that bacterial communities in polluted soils exhibit increased tolerance and co-tolerance to both heavy metals and antibiotics, which has important implications for understanding the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes to human pathogens.