Exploring the links between antibiotic occurrence, antibiotic resistance, and bacterial communities in water supply reservoirs

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 456-457; pp. 161 - 170
• Main Authors: Huerta, Belinda, Marti, Elisabet, Gros, Meritxell, López, Pilar, Pompêo, Marcelo, Armengol, Joan, Barceló, Damià, Balcázar, Jose Luis, Rodríguez-Mozaz, Sara, Marcé, Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 01-07-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - analysis; Applied sciences; Bacterial communities; Continental surface waters; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - genetics; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Genes, Bacterial; Geologic Sediments - analysis; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; Natural water pollution; Pharmaceuticals; Pollution; Pollution sources. Measurement results; RDA; Soil and sediments pollution; Spain; Water Microbiology - standards; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Resources - standards; Water Supply - standards; Water treatment and pollution; Spain; Pollution; Bacterial communities; RDA; Pharmaceuticals; Drug; Water supply; Sediments; Water tank; Antibiotic resistance; Emerging pollutant; Water pollution; Microbial community; Organic compounds
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.071

Antibiotic resistance represents a growing global health concern due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. There is, however, little information about how the selective pressure of clinical antibiotic usage can affect environmental communities in aquatic ecosystems and which bacterial groups might be responsible for dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into the environment. In this study, chemical and biological characterization of water and sediments from three water supply reservoirs subjected to a wide pollution gradient allowed to draw an accurate picture of the concentration of antibiotics and prevalence of ARGs, in order to evaluate the potential role of ARGs in shaping bacterial communities, and to identify the bacterial groups most probably carrying and disseminating ARGs. Results showed significant correlation between the presence of ARG conferring resistance to macrolides and the composition of bacterial communities, suggesting that antibiotic pollution and the spreading of ARG might play a role in the conformation of bacterial communities in reservoirs. Results also pointed out the bacterial groups Actinobacteria and Firmicutes as the ones probably carrying and disseminating ARGs. The potential effect of antibiotic pollution and the presence of ARGs on the composition of bacterial communities in lacustrine ecosystems prompt the fundamental question about potential effects on bacterial-related ecosystem services supplied by lakes and reservoirs.
•Antibiotics and prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in reservoirs•No clear associations between antibiotic occurrence and resistance genes•Composition of microbial communities explained by the presence of resistance genes•Actinobacteria and Firmicutes associated to the presence of resistance genes