Frontiers in Marine Science (Jan 2023)

Combined effect of Cu- and ZnO- NPs on antibiotic resistance genes in an estuarine water

  • Yu-ru Chen,
  • Yu-ru Chen,
  • Rong-rong Sha,
  • Xiao-li Sun,
  • Xing-pan Guo,
  • Xing-pan Guo,
  • Yi Yang,
  • Yi Yang,
  • Yi Yang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1086606
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Most studies of whether and how nanoparticles (NPs) affect antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) focus on testing single NPs type. In this study, we determined the combined effect of Cu- and ZnO- NPs in the water samples collected from the Yangtze River Estuary and found the effect differs greatly from that produced by individual NPs. The results showed that the Cu- and ZnO- NPs co-exposure resulted in an enrichment of ARGs, whereas individual Cu- and ZnO- NPs exposure decreased the abundance of ARGs. Furthermore, the co-exposure of Cu- and ZnO- NPs induced obvious changes in the microbial communities compared to the control communities. Redundancy analysis suggested that the microbial community contributed the most (43.5%) to the ARG profiles, followed by dissolved metal ions (25.7%), MRGs, (19.4%), and MGEs (4.4%). Network analysis found several potential hosts (such as Mycobacterium and Escherichia coli) and implied the extent of the risk of ARG transmission into various environmental niches by these common microbes.

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