Nature Communications (Apr 2025)
Global diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in human wastewater treatment systems
- Congmin Zhu,
- Linwei Wu,
- Daliang Ning,
- Renmao Tian,
- Shuhong Gao,
- Bing Zhang,
- Jianshu Zhao,
- Ya Zhang,
- Naijia Xiao,
- Yajiao Wang,
- Mathew R. Brown,
- Qichao Tu,
- Global Water Microbiome Consortium,
- Feng Ju,
- George F. Wells,
- Jianhua Guo,
- Zhili He,
- Per H. Nielsen,
- Aijie Wang,
- Yu Zhang,
- Ting Chen,
- Qiang He,
- Craig S. Criddle,
- Michael Wagner,
- James M. Tiedje,
- Thomas P. Curtis,
- Xianghua Wen,
- Yunfeng Yang,
- Lisa Alvarez-Cohen,
- David A. Stahl,
- Pedro J. J. Alvarez,
- Bruce E. Rittmann,
- Jizhong Zhou
Affiliations
- Congmin Zhu
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University
- Linwei Wu
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Daliang Ning
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Renmao Tian
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Shuhong Gao
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Bing Zhang
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University
- Jianshu Zhao
- Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Ya Zhang
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Naijia Xiao
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Yajiao Wang
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- Mathew R. Brown
- School of Engineering, Newcastle University
- Qichao Tu
- Institute for Marine Science and Technology, Shandong University
- Global Water Microbiome Consortium
- Feng Ju
- Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University
- George F. Wells
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University
- Jianhua Guo
- Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, The University of Queensland
- Zhili He
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory
- Per H. Nielsen
- Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Center for Microbial Communities, Aalborg University
- Aijie Wang
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Yu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Ting Chen
- Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University
- Qiang He
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Tennessee
- Craig S. Criddle
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
- Michael Wagner
- Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of Vienna
- James M. Tiedje
- Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University
- Thomas P. Curtis
- School of Engineering, Newcastle University
- Xianghua Wen
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University
- Yunfeng Yang
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University
- Lisa Alvarez-Cohen
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of California
- David A. Stahl
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
- Pedro J. J. Alvarez
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University
- Bruce E. Rittmann
- Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University
- Jizhong Zhou
- Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 16,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 14
Abstract
Abstract Antibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to human health, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are important reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here, we analyze the antibiotic resistomes of 226 activated sludge samples from 142 WWTPs across six continents, using a consistent pipeline for sample collection, DNA sequencing and analysis. We find that ARGs are diverse and similarly abundant, with a core set of 20 ARGs present in all WWTPs. ARG composition differs across continents and is distinct from that of the human gut and the oceans. ARG composition strongly correlates with bacterial taxonomic composition, with Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria being the major carriers. ARG abundance positively correlates with the presence of mobile genetic elements, and 57% of the 1112 recovered high-quality genomes possess putatively mobile ARGs. Resistome variations appear to be driven by a complex combination of stochastic processes and deterministic abiotic factors.
