title: Monitoring and evaluation of antibiotic resistance genes in four municipal wastewater treatment plants in Harbin, Northeast China.
abstract: The development and proliferation of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic and environmental microorganisms is of great concern for public health. In this study, the distribution and removal efficiency of intI1 and eight subtypes of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) for tetracycline, sulfonamides, beta-lactams resistance in four municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Harbin, which locates in Songhua River basin in cold areas of China, were monitored by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. The results showed that intI1 and 6 ARGs except for blaTEM and blaSHV were detected in wastewater and sludge samples and 0.3-2.7 orders of magnitude of ARGs removal efficiency in the four WWTPs were observed. The investigation on the removal of ARGs of different treatment units in one WWTP showed that the biological treatment unit played the most important role in ARGs removal (1.2-1.8 orders of magnitude), followed by UV disinfection, while primary physical treatment units can hardly remove any ARGs. Although all the WWTPs can remove ARGs effectively, ARGs concentrations are still relatively high in the effluent, their further attenuation should be investigated.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, PR China. Electronic address: wqxshelly@263.net.
authors: Qinxue
authors: Q
authors: Wen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, PR China.
authors: Lian
authors: L
authors: Yang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, PR China.
authors: Ruan
authors: R
authors: Duan
authors: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (SKLUWRE, HIT), Harbin 150090, PR China. Electronic address: czqhit@163.com.
authors: Zhiqiang
authors: Z
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002681:China; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D045483:Rivers; D012722:Sewage; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000494:pharmacology; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000494:pharmacology; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D062065:Wastewater; D018508:Water Purification; D047090:beta-Lactams / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012722:Sewage; D013449:Sulfonamides; D013752:Tetracycline; D062065:Wastewater; D047090:beta-Lactams
keywords: ARGs; Beta-lactam resistance gene; Sulfanilamide resistance genes; Tetracycline resistance genes; Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)