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Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistant Genes in Aquatic Environments: Occurrence, Toxicity,...
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Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistant Genes in Aquatic Environments: Occurrence, Toxicity, and Fate

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and One Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 4576

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Anca Farkas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeș-Bolyai University, 1 M. Kogalniceanu Street, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2. Centre for Systems Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresources, Babeș-Bolyai University, 5–7 Clinicilor Street, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: water quality; antimicrobial resistance; biofilms; waterborne pathogens; biostatistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The water pollution crisis threatens human, animal and environmental health globally, with pollutants such as environmental antimicrobials and antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) emerging worldwide in different aquatic compartments. Hospital effluents, wastewater treatment plants, sewage and leachate from animal farms, manure deposits and landfills, where antibiotics are commonly found in high concentrations, are the main sources and reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance. Among other stress factors, subinhibitory concentrations of antimicrobials can induce stress responses, increase mutation rates and accelerate evolution. An increasing number of bacterial species, including waterborne pathogens, are developing protective mechanisms and acquiring novel genes capable of producing drug resistance. In water environments, biofilms are hot spots for horizontal gene transfer, contributing to the increase in ARG abundances in bacterial communities, as well as in their dissemination. Therefore, besides the emergence of antibiotics and ARGs in aquatic environments, novel insights concerning the ARG transfer mechanisms, rates and pathways are required urgently.

This Special Issue, titled “Antibiotics and Antibiotic-Resistant Genes in Aquatic Environments: Occurrence, Toxicity and Fate”, aims to present novel research evaluating the emergence, evolution and spread of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and ARGs in aquatic environments, as well as their associated risks to human, animal and environmental health.

Dr. Anca Farkas
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antibiotics
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • waterborne pathogens
  • biofilms
  • horizontal gene transfer
  • water quality

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2898 KiB  
Article
Phage-Based Biocontrol of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacterium Isolated from Livestock Wastewater Treatment Plant
by Rojarani Pallavali, Donghyeok Shin and Jeongdong Choi
Water 2023, 15(8), 1616; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w15081616 - 21 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2120
Abstract
The presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in receiving water can severely threaten the aquatic environment and human health. The treated effluent containing ARB in some livestock wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is returned to the municipal WWTP to reduce the residual ammonia and phosphorus [...] Read more.
The presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in receiving water can severely threaten the aquatic environment and human health. The treated effluent containing ARB in some livestock wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is returned to the municipal WWTP to reduce the residual ammonia and phosphorus concentrations. ARBs are widespread through wastewater treatment processes and are discharged into river and lake. This study highlights that the isolated lytic phage could reduce ARB isolated from livestock WWTPs and apply phage-based biocontrol in mixed cultures. ARB and lytic phages were isolated from livestock wastewater and used in a batch reactor with diverse cultures. The isolated bacterium was from the Aeromonas species and was resistant to various antibiotics (penicillin, tetracycline, colistin, and kanamycin), indicating multi-drug resistance and biofilm formation. The isolated lytic phage successfully infected Aeromonas species in pure culture and was relatively stable in terms of pH, temperature, and toxic chemicals. The multiplicity of infection (MOI) was examined to determine the proper phage number to kill the host bacterium. The optimal number to control the isolated ARB was a 1:100 phage-to-host ratio. Scanning electron microscopy showed that lytic phages reduced bacterial growth and biofilm formation. Phage-mediated biocontrol was applied in a batch reactor with mixed cultures. Pyrosequencing data from the batch reactor indicated that lytic phages reduced the proportion of the isolated ARB from 65.7 to 20% in 24 h. This study provides evidence for the possible application of lytic phages to control ARB in treated wastewater and an alternative method to prevent the widespread exposure of ARB without producing chemical byproducts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistant Genes in Aquatic Environments: Occurrence, Toxicity, and Fate)
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17 pages, 1054 KiB  
Article
Pollution Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Typical Antibiotics and Persistent Organic Pollutants in Reservoir Water Sources
by Chunwei Li, Yuan Xu and Weiwei Song
Water 2023, 15(2), 259; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w15020259 - 08 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2104
Abstract
The major task of Chinese water governance has gradually shifted away from water environment protection to water ecology remediation, and the governance of trace organic pollutants, including persistent organic pollutants and antibiotics, has attracted growing concern. The present study examined the seasonal distribution [...] Read more.
The major task of Chinese water governance has gradually shifted away from water environment protection to water ecology remediation, and the governance of trace organic pollutants, including persistent organic pollutants and antibiotics, has attracted growing concern. The present study examined the seasonal distribution and sources of typical persistent organic pollutants and antibiotics in six representative water sources in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as their ecological risk to the environment. Six representative surface water and surface sediment samples were collected at different time intervals, i.e., December 2018, March 2019, and June 2019, and the concentrations of nineteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), seventeen polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and eight polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed by GC-MS. The major findings are listed below: ① Endosulfan sulfate, Beta-endosulfan, and methoxychlor were the major persistent organic pollutants (POPs) detected in the sediments from Gaoyou Lake, Gonghu Lake, and Gehu Lake, with concentrations ranging from 9.0 to 10.6 ng/g. ② The target antibiotics in water sources were at relatively low levels. Occurrences of sulfonamide antibiotics in water and surface sediments were NF~37.4 ng·L−1 and NF~47.3 ng·g−1. Concentrations of quinolone antibiotics in the two media were NF~5.3 ng·L−1, 0.4~32.5 ng·g−1. ③ The combined toxicity of antibiotics (risk quotient, RQ) in Lake Gehu was 0.18, which was at a moderate risk level. There was no obvious ecological risk in most water sources affected by POPs. However, there were certain ecological risks in the water sources of Gaoyou Lake, Gonghu Lake, and Sanjiangying, induced by OCPs and PCBs. This study provides a scientific basis for the treatment of antibiotics and organic pollutants in reservoir water sources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistant Genes in Aquatic Environments: Occurrence, Toxicity, and Fate)
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