Global diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in human wastewater treatment systems
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.
Authors
- Qichao Tu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3245-7545)
- Daliang Ning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3368-5988)
- Yajiao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8447-1285)
- Mathew R. Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0627-3937)
- Jianshu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2586-3852)
- Renmao Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2151-4417)
- Bing Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9774-517X)
- Linwei Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6649-5072)
- Pedro J. J. Alvarez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6725-7199)
- Ya Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1746-3437)
- Congmin Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0472-9128)
- Shu-Hong Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3608-4050)
- David A. Stahl
- Naijia Xiao
Institutions
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Northeastern University (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Biotechnology Institute (US)
- Universidade de Ribeirão Preto (BR)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- Southwest University (CN)
- Minzu University of China (CN)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Shandong University (CN)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Scion (NZ)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Durban University of Technology (ZA)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Illinois Institute of Technology (US)
- Capital Medical University (CN)
- Northeast Normal University (CN)
- Lund University (SE)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Washington (US)
- Peking University (CN)
- Cornell University (US)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- Universidade Federal do Ceará (BR)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Westlake University (CN)
- Water Research Institute (SK)
- Ministry of Education (RO)
- Institute for Food Safety and Health (US)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN)
- Michigan Medicine (US)
- Pontificial Catholic University of Valparaiso (CL)
- Water Research Institute (IT)
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (CN)
- City of Portland (US)
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (CN)
- DVGW-Forschungsstelle am Engler-Bunte-Institut des Karlsruher Instituts für Technologie (DE)
- National Research Council (IT)
- Institut Méditerranéen d’Océanologie (FR)
- Hampton Roads Sanitation District (US)
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable (UY)
- CSIRO Land and Water (AU)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) (CN)
- Hunan Agricultural University (CN)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH)
- Rice University (US)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- University of Missouri (US)
- University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US)
- University of Guelph (CA)
- Old Dominion University (US)
- Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- Newcastle University (GB)
- Virginia Tech (US)
- University of Oklahoma (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Aalborg University (DK)
- Universidad del Valle (CO)
- National Cheng Kung University (TW)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-04-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3
- Citations
- 74
- Primary Topic
- Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 37.27
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China