title: Limited dissemination of the wastewater treatment plant core resistome.
abstract: Horizontal gene transfer is a major contributor to the evolution of bacterial genomes and can facilitate the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes between environmental reservoirs and potential pathogens. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are believed to play a central role in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes. However, the contribution of the dominant members of the WWTP resistome to resistance in human pathogens remains poorly understood. Here we use a combination of metagenomic functional selections and comprehensive metagenomic sequencing to uncover the dominant genes of the WWTP resistome. We find that this core resistome is unique to the WWTP environment, with <10% of the resistance genes found outside the WWTP environment. Our data highlight that, despite an abundance of functional resistance genes within WWTPs, only few genes are found in other environments, suggesting that the overall dissemination of the WWTP resistome is comparable to that of the soil resistome.
authors.affiliation: Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kogle Alle 6, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Munck
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mads
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albertsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark.
authors.forename: Amar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Telke
authors.affiliation: Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kogle Alle 6, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ellabaan
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Per Halkjær
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6402-1877
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kogle Alle 6, DK-2970 Hørsholm, Denmark.
authors.forename: Morten O A
authors.initials: MOA
authors.lastname: Sommer
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D062065:Wastewater / Q000382:microbiology*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D062065:Wastewater