Microplastic biofilm: An important microniche that may accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes via natural transformation

Wang，Huixiang1,2,3; Xu，Kaiwen1,4; Wang，Jing1,3; Feng，Chong1; Chen，Yihan3; Shi，Jianghong5; Ding，Yan3; Deng，Chengxun1,4; Liu，Xiaowei1,4

2023-10-05

10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132085

Journal of Hazardous Materials   Impact Factor & Quartile

0304-3894

1873-3336

Microplastic (MP) biofilms provide a specific microniche for microbial life and are a potential hotspot for the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Nevertheless, the acquisition of ARGs in MP biofilms via natural transformation mediated by extracellular DNA (eDNA) has been rarely explored. This study demonstrated that MP biofilms promoted the natural transformation of extracellular ARGs at the single-cell and multi-species levels, compared to natural substrate (NS) biofilms and bacterioplankton. The transformation frequency on MP biofilms was up to 1000-fold compare to that on NS. The small MPs and aged MPs enhanced the ARG transformation frequencies up to 77.16-fold and 32.05-fold, respectively, compared with the large MPs and pristine MPs. The transformation frequencies on MP biofilms were significantly positively correlated with the bacterial density and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) content (P < 0.05). Furthermore, MPs significantly increased the expression of the biofilm formation related genes (motA and pgaA) and DNA uptake related genes (pilX and comA) compared to NS and bacterioplankton. The more transformants colonized on MPs contributed to the enhanced transformation frequencies at the community-wide level. Overall, eDNA-mediated transformation in MP biofilms may be an important path of ARG spread, which was promoted by heterogeneous biofilm.

ARG Extracellular DNA Extracellular polymeric substance HGT Microbial community

SCI

English

Others

National Natural Science Foundation of China[42007330];National Natural Science Foundation of China[52070063];

Engineering ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Engineering, Environmental ; Environmental Sciences

WOS:001048484200001

ELSEVIER

ENGINEERING

2-s2.0-85165424972

Scopus

1.School of Biology,Food,and Environment,Hefei University,Hefei,230601,China
2.School of Environment,Nanjing Normal University,Nanjing,210023,China
3.School of Resources and Environmental Engineering,Hefei University of Technology,Hefei,230009,China
4.International (Sino-German) Joint Research Center for Biomass of Anhui Province,Hefei,230601,China
5.State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control,School of Environmental Science and Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,518055,China

Wang，Huixiang,Xu，Kaiwen,Wang，Jing,et al. Microplastic biofilm: An important microniche that may accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes via natural transformation[J]. Journal of Hazardous Materials,2023,459.

Wang，Huixiang.,Xu，Kaiwen.,Wang，Jing.,Feng，Chong.,Chen，Yihan.,...&Liu，Xiaowei.(2023).Microplastic biofilm: An important microniche that may accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes via natural transformation.Journal of Hazardous Materials,459.

Wang，Huixiang,et al."Microplastic biofilm: An important microniche that may accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes via natural transformation".Journal of Hazardous Materials 459(2023).