Enrichment of antibiotic resistance genetic elements in rural sewage by wetland plants
WEN Fei-fei1, HUANG Kui1,2,3, XIA Hui1, SONG Bing-yu1, ZHAO Meng1
1. School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Yellow River Water Environment in Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730070, China; 3. Ministry of Education Engineering Research Center of Water Resource Comprehensive Utilization in Cold and Arid Regions, Lanzhou 730070, China
Abstract：This study aimed to explore the accumulation of MGEs by wetland plants in the treatment of rural sewage using a soil ecological infiltration system. Thus, the changes in the integrase gene intI1and transposase gene tnpA-04 in the vegetative parts of the wetland plant Iris were investigated before and after treatment. The results showed that, over a 60d operational period, the soil ecological infiltration system achieved average removal rates of ammonia nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand from rural sewage of 88.50% and 75.17%, respectively. The average height and fresh weight of the Iris increased by 3.63% and 43.45%, respectively. The concentration of MGEs in the plant increased by 1.67ng/g, with intracellular accounting for 68.26%. Forthermore, the abundance of the tnpA-04 gene was found to be 37.86% higher than that of the intI1gene, which demonstrated a higher propensity for transfer within the vegetative parts of Iris. The bioconcentration ability for MGEs in the plant's vegetative parts followed the order: stem > root > leaf. Moreover, variations in soil properties significantly influenced the plant's ability to accumulate MGEs (P < 0.05). This study suggests that wetland plants can effectively accumulate MGEs from rural sewage, thereby reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance gene dissemination.
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