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Effect of temperature on removal of antibiotic resistance genes by anaerobic digestion of activated sludge revealed by metagenomic approach

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

As antibiotic resistance continues to spread globally, there is growing interest in the potential to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from wastewater sources. In particular, operational conditions during sludge digestion may serve to discourage selection of resistant bacteria, reduce horizontal transfer of ARGs, and aid in hydrolysis of DNA. This study applied metagenomic analysis to examine the removal efficiency of ARGs through thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digestion using bench-scale reactors. Although the relative abundance of various ARGs shifted from influent to effluent sludge, there was no measureable change in the abundance of total ARGs or their diversity in either the thermophilic or mesophilic treatment. Among the 35 major ARG subtypes detected in feed sludge, substantial reductions (removal efficiency >90 %) of 8 and 13 ARGs were achieved by thermophilic and mesophilic digestion, respectively. However, resistance genes of aadA, macB, and sul1 were enriched during the thermophilic anaerobic digestion, while resistance genes of erythromycin esterase type I, sul1, and tetM were enriched during the mesophilic anaerobic digestion. Efflux pump remained to be the major antibiotic resistance mechanism in sludge samples, but the portion of ARGs encoding resistance via target modification increased in the anaerobically digested sludge relative to the feed. Metagenomic analysis provided insight into the potential for anaerobic digestion to mitigate a broad array of ARGs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (HKU7201/11E). Ying Yang thanks the University of Hong Kong for the postgraduate studentship.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China

    Tong Zhang & Ying Yang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Amy Pruden

Authors
  1. Tong Zhang
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  2. Ying Yang
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  3. Amy Pruden
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tong Zhang.

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Zhang, T., Yang, Y. & Pruden, A. Effect of temperature on removal of antibiotic resistance genes by anaerobic digestion of activated sludge revealed by metagenomic approach. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 7771–7779 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6688-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6688-9

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