Occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the coastal area of the Bohai Bay, China.
Considering the abuse of antibiotics worldwide, we investigated the abundance of three classes of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and the concentrations of corresponding antibiotics in water and sediments of Bohai Bay. The results showed that sulI and sulII were detected in all samples, and their abundance range was 10(-5)-10(-2)/16S gene copies. The abundance of tetM and ermB were relatively higher than the other genes of tet-ARGs and erm-ARGs. Sulfonamides were the most prevalent antibiotics, and the concentrations of antibiotic in sediments were higher than those in water. The correlation analysis revealed that antibiotics had pertinence with corresponding ARGs, indicating that antibiotics play an important role in the creation and transfer of ARGs. The results of regression analysis indicated that the propagation and maintenance of sulI and sulII were facilitated by class I integrons.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China; School of Marine Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
Zhi-Guang
ZG
Niu
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
Kai
K
Zhang
MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: zhangying@nankai.edu.cn.
Ying
Y
Zhang
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000032:analysis; D061006:Bays / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D002681:China; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D032023:Integrons; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013449:Sulfonamides
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D013449:Sulfonamides
Antibiotic; Antibiotic resistance; Bohai Bay; Correlation