Occurrences and distribution of sulfonamide and tetracycline resistance genes in the Yangtze River Estuary and nearby coastal area

Lan Lin; Ke Yuan; Ximei Liang; Xin Chen; Zongshan Zhao; Ying Yang; Shichun Zou; Tiangang Luan; Baowei Chen

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.08.036

Occurrences and distribution of sulfonamide and tetracycline resistance genes in the Yangtze River Estuary and nearby coastal area

Mar Pollut Bull. 2015 Nov 15;100(1):304-310. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.08.036. Epub 2015 Sep 5.

Authors

Lan Lin¹, Ke Yuan², Ximei Liang³, Xin Chen⁴, Zongshan Zhao⁵, Ying Yang⁴, Shichun Zou⁴, Tiangang Luan⁴, Baowei Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, PR China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Safety, School of Marine Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
³ College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, PR China.
⁴ MOE Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Safety, School of Marine Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Resources and Coastal Engineering, School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; South China Sea Resource Exploitation and Protection Collaborative Innovation Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Biobased Materials, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Qingdao 266100, PR China.
⁶ MOE Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Safety, School of Marine Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Resources and Coastal Engineering, School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China; South China Sea Resource Exploitation and Protection Collaborative Innovation Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 26349787
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.08.036

Abstract

The role of highly impacted estuaries needs to be examined with respect to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. In the present study, sulfonamide resistance (sul), tetracycline resistance (tet) and class I integron (int1) genes were ubiquitous in the sediments of the Yangtze Estuary (YE) and nearby coastal area, and exhibited a declining trend from the inner estuary to the coast. Good relationships were only observed between int1 and sul1 genes, implying that int1 gene is essential to the proliferation of sul1 gene. A non-significant correlation between int1 and 16S rRNA genes indicated that the int1 gene came from pollution sources of ARGs instead of being intrinsic in environmental bacterial populations. Sulfonamides were rarely detected in the sediments of this region, so could not result in the production of sul genes in the local environment.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes; Dissemination; Estuary; Integron.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
Estuaries
Genes, Bacterial
Geologic Sediments / microbiology*
Integrons
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
Rivers / microbiology
Sulfanilamide
Sulfanilamides / pharmacology*
Tetracycline / analysis
Tetracycline Resistance / genetics*

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Sulfanilamides
Sulfanilamide
Tetracycline