title: Reductions of bacterial antibiotic resistance through five biological treatment processes treated municipal wastewater.
abstract: Wastewater treatment plants are hot spots for antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, limited studies have been conducted to compare the reductions of ARB and ARGs by various biological treatment processes. The study explored the reductions of heterotrophic bacteria resistant to six groups of antibiotics (vancomycin, gentamicin, erythromycin, cephalexin, tetracycline, and sulfadiazine) and corresponding resistance genes (vanA, aacC1, ereA, ampC, tetA, and sulI) by five bench-scale biological reactors. Results demonstrated that membrane bioreactor (MBR) and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) significantly reduced ARB abundances in the ranges of 2.80∼3.54 log and 2.70∼3.13 log, respectively, followed by activated sludge (AS). Biological filter (BF) and anaerobic (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket, UASB) techniques led to relatively low reductions. In contrast, ARGs were not equally reduced as ARB. AS and SBR also showed significant potentials on ARGs reduction, whilst MBR and UASB could not reduce ARGs effectively. Redundancy analysis implied that the purification of wastewater quality parameters (COD, NH4 (+)-N, and turbidity) performed a positive correlation to ARB and ARGs reductions.
authors.affiliation: College of Environment, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211800, China.|College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
authors.forename: Qing-Bin
authors.initials: QB
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China. guomeiting@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Mei-Ting
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: College of Environment, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211800, China.
authors.forename: Wu-Ji
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D019149:Bioreactors; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004917:Erythromycin; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D052836:Heterotrophic Processes; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology; D013752:Tetracycline; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004917:Erythromycin; D012722:Sewage; D013752:Tetracycline; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Antibiotic resistance genes; Antibiotic-resistant bacteria; Biological treatment process; Municipal wastewater; Reduction; Redundancy analysis