title: Effects of antibiotic resistance genes on the performance and stability of different microbial aggregates in a granular sequencing batch reactor.
abstract: Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have emerged as key factors in wastewater environmental contaminants and continue to pose a challenge for wastewater treatment processes. With the aim of investigating the performance of granular sludge system when treating wastewater containing a considerable amount of ARGs, a lab-scale granular sequencing batch reactor (GSBR) where flocculent and granular sludge coexisted was designed. The results showed that after inoculation of donor strain NH4(+)-N purification efficiency diminished from 94.7% to 32.8% and recovered to 95.2% after 10 days. Meanwhile, RP4 plasmid had varying effects on different forms of microbial aggregates. As the size of aggregates increased, the abundance of RP4 in sludge decreased. The residence time of RP4 in granules with particle size exceeding 0.9 mm (14 days) was far shorter than that in flocculent sludge (26 days). Therefore, our studies conclude that with increasing number of ARGs being detected in wastewater, the use of granular sludge system in wastewater treatment processes will allow the reduction of ARGs transmissions and lessen potential ecological threats.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenci
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Weijia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Tianyu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China.
authors.forename: Junwen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China. Electronic address: tjzhangbin@sohu.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control for Environment and Food Safety, Tianjin 300050, PR China. Electronic address: jingfengwang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jingfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D019149:Bioreactors; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D010957:Plasmids; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal
keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes; Granular sequencing batch reactor; Granule size; Microbial aggregates; Treatment performance