Co-contamination of metal (loid)s and antibiotics induced the enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes in the coastal industrial basin

) were not only closely with antibiotics, but also significantly positively correlated with heavy metals. What's more, the heavy metals had significant positive correlations with MGEs such as plasmids, integrons, and efflux pumps, suggesting that heavy metals could potentially drive the propagation of ARGs in sediments. The rand-forest model showed the heavy metal (loid)s contributed up to 70% to the ARGs pollution in sediments. This study extends our understanding of the correlation between ARGs and heavy metals/antibiotics and emphasizes the importance of considering co-existing heavy metals in the ARG pollution in coastal watersheds.