Antibiotic resistance genes link to nitrogen removal potential via co-hosting preference for denitrification genes in a subtropical estuary.

Estuaries are important sinks for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and hotspots of nitrogen cycling. However, the interactions between nitrogen cycling functional genes (NCGs) and ARGs in estuaries remain poorly understood. This study employed metagenomic sequencing to explore potential interactions between nitrogen, ARGs, and microbial-mediated nitrogen cycling processes in estuarine waters. Results showed beta-lactam was the predominant subtype of ARGs (407 species), and sul1 exhibited the highest relative abundance (4.11 %). Nitrogen was the important factor driving spatiotemporal variation of ARGs, promoting their proliferation and dispersal by enhancing microbial growth and reproduction. Network analysis revealed wide and complex correlations between ARGs and NCGs. Nitrate-reducing bacteria were the main hosts of ARGs, and the greatest number of potential hosts were those involved in assimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (17.44 %), dissimilatory nitrate reduction to nitrite (16.59 %), and denitrification (15.71 %). Compared with dissimilatory nitrite reduction to ammonium genes, ARGs prefer to form co-hosting relationships with denitrification genes, indicating that ARGs had a stronger effect on the nitrogen removal potential than on the nitrogen retention potential. This study highlights the complex interactions between ARGs and nitrogen cycling processes in subtropical estuaries, and will provide a scientific base for couple management strategies of nitrogen and antibiotic pollution.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Journal of Hazardous Materials

• Publication date

  2025-09-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.139801PMID 40934587
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Nutrient enrichment by high aquaculture effluent input exacerbates imbalances between methane production and oxidation in mangrove sediments.

  2025cited by this paper
• Phosphorus starvation response genes and function coupling: A mechanism to regulate phosphorus availability in a subtropical estuary.

  2024cited by this paper
• Loss of microbial functional diversity following Spartina alterniflora invasion reduces the potential of carbon sequestration and nitrogen removal in mangrove sediments-from a gene perspective.

  2024cited by this paper
• Geographical factor dominates spatial patterns of potential nitrate reduction rates in coastal wetland sediments in Fujian Province, China

  2024cited by this paper
• Wastewater treatment plant effluents increase the global warming potential in a subtropical urbanized river.

  2024cited by this paper
• Unraveling antibiotic resistomes associated with bacterial and viral communities in intertidal mudflat aquaculture area.

  2023cited by this paper
• Characterization of microbial community and antibiotic resistome in intra urban water, Wenzhou China

  2023cited by this paper
• Dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes from the Pearl River Estuary to adjacent coastal areas.

  2023cited by this paper
• Distribution of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Their Associations with Bacterial Communities and Water Quality in Freshwater Lakes

  2023cited by this paper
• Warming Tends to Promote Nitrogen Conservation but Stimulate N2O Emissions in Mangrove Sediments

  2023cited by this paper
• The distinct phases of fresh-seawater mixing intricately regulate the nitrogen transformation processes in a high run-off estuary: Insight from multi-isotopes and microbial function analysis.

  2023cited by this paper
• Microbial interactions strengthen deterministic processes during community assembly in a subtropical estuary.

  2023cited by this paper
• Antibiotic resistant genes profile in the surface water of subtropical drinking water river-reservoir system.

  2023cited by this paper
• Effects of tidal action on the stability of microbiota, antibiotic resistance genes, and microplastics in the Pearl River Estuary, Guangzhou, China.

  2023cited by this paper
• Multiple stable isotopic approaches for tracing nitrate contamination sources: Implications for nitrogen management in complex watersheds.

  2023cited by this paper
• Insight into the spatiotemporal distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in estuarine sediments during long-term ecological restoration.

  2023cited by this paper
• Self-rescue of nitrogen-cycling bacteria under β-lactam antibiotics stress during managed aquifer recharge (MAR): Microbial collaboration and anti-resistance.

  2023cited by this paper
• Characterization of microbial community, ecological functions and antibiotic resistance in estuarine plastisphere.

  2023cited by this paper
• Tracking the influence of antibiotics, antibiotic resistomes, and salinity gradient in modulating microbial community assemblage of surface water and the ecological consequences.

  2022cited by this paper
• Distribution and drivers of antibiotic resistance genes in brackish water aquaculture sediment.

  2022cited by this paper
• Distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the sediments of Erhai Lake, Yunnan-Kweichow Plateau, China: Their linear relations with nonpoint source pollution discharges from 26 tributaries.

  2022cited by this paper
• Insight into co-hosts of nitrate reduction genes and antibiotic resistance genes in an urban river of the qinghai-tibet plateau.

  2022cited by this paper
• Climate and nutrients regulate biographical patterns and health risks of antibiotic resistance genes in mangrove environment.

  2022cited by this paper
• Evidence for Assimilatory Nitrate Reduction as a Previously Overlooked Pathway of Reactive Nitrogen Transformation in Estuarine Suspended Particulate Matter.

  2022cited by this paper
• Pollution characteristics of typical ARGs in the sediments of the sea area adjacent to the Yangtze Estuary, China.

  2022cited by this paper
• Characterization of antibiotic resistance genes in drinking water sources of the Douhe Reservoir, Tangshan, northern China: the correlation with bacterial communities and environmental factors

  2022cited by this paper
• Co-driving factors of tidal effect on the abundance and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the Yongjiang Estuary, China.

  2022cited by this paper
• Occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes in the Fuhe urban river and its driving mechanism.

  2022cited by this paper
• Metagenomics highlights the impact of climate and human activities on antibiotic resistance genes in China's estuaries.

  2022cited by this paper
• The marine nitrogen cycle: new developments and global change

  2022cited by this paper
• Deciphering the transfers of antibiotic resistance genes under antibiotic exposure conditions: Driven by functional modules and bacterial community.

  2021cited by this paper
• Pathogenic and Indigenous Denitrifying Bacteria are Transcriptionally Active and Key Multi-Antibiotic-Resistant Players in Wastewater Treatment Plants.

  2021cited by this paper
• Determination of antibiotic resistance genes in a WWTP-impacted river in surface water, sediment, and biofilm: Influence of seasonality and water quality.

  2021cited by this paper
• Diverse and abundant antibiotic resistance genes in mangrove area and their relationship with bacterial communities - A study in Hainan Island, China.

  2021cited by this paper
• A systematic review of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in estuarine and coastal environments.

  2021cited by this paper
• Distance dilution of antibiotic resistance genes of sediments in an estuary system in relation to coastal cities.

  2021cited by this paper
• Performance of full scale constructed wetlands in removing antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes.

  2021cited by this paper
• Profiles of antibiotic resistance genes in an inland salt-lake Ebinur Lake, Xinjiang, China: The relationship with antibiotics, environmental factors, and microbial communities.

  2021cited by this paper
• Response of microbial nitrogen transformation processes to antibiotic stress in a drinking water reservoir.

  2021cited by this paper
• Microbially mediated nitrogen removal and retention in the york river estuary.

  2021cited by this paper
• Sediments alleviate the inhibition effects of antibiotics on denitrification: Functional gene, microbial community, and antibiotic resistance gene analysis.

  2021cited by this paper
• Seasonal distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the Yellow River water and tap water, and their potential transmission from water to human.

  2021cited by this paper
• Biogeographic distributions of nitrogen‐cycling functional genes in a subtropical estuary

  2021cited by this paper
• Spatial distribution of antibiotic resistance genes of the Zaohe–Weihe Rivers, China: exerting a bottleneck in the hyporheic zone

  2021cited by this paper
• Continental-scale spatio-temporal distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in coastal waters along coastline of China.

  2020cited by this paper
• Evaluating responses of nitrification and denitrification to the co-selective pressure of divalent zinc and tetracycline based on resistance genes changes.

  2020cited by this paper
• Dominant denitrifying bacteria are important hosts of antibiotic resistance genes in pig farm anoxic-oxic wastewater treatment processes.

  2020cited by this paper
• Source tracking of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment - Challenges, progress, and prospects.

  2020cited by this paper
• Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their associated environmental factors in the Yangtze Estuary, China: From inlet to outlet.

  2020cited by this paper
• Antibiotic resistance genes might serve as new indicators for wastewater contamination of coastal waters: Spatial distribution and source apportionment of antibiotic resistance genes in a coastal bay

  2020cited by this paper
• Metagenome sequencing to unveil the resistome in a deep subtropical lake on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China.

  2020cited by this paper
• Spectrum and environmental risks of residual pharmaceuticals in stream water with emphasis on its relation to epidemic infectious disease and anthropogenic activity in watershed.

  2019cited by this paper
• Decoupling the Dynamics of Bacterial Taxonomy and Antibiotic Resistance Function in a Subtropical Urban Reservoir as Revealed by High-Frequency Sampling

  2019cited by this paper
• Methane Dynamics of Aquaculture Shrimp Ponds in Two Subtropical Estuaries, Southeast China: Dissolved Concentration, Net Sediment Release, and Water Oxidation

  2019cited by this paper
• Cometabolic biotransformation and microbial-mediated abiotic transformation of sulfonamides by three ammonia oxidizers.

  2019cited by this paper
• Riverine nutrient fluxes and environmental effects on China's estuaries.

  2019cited by this paper
• Impact of ZnO nanoparticles on the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in estuarine water: ARG variations and their association with the microbial community

  2019cited by this paper
• Biofilms as a sink for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the Yangtze Estuary.

  2018cited by this paper
• Metagenomic analysis reveals wastewater treatment plants as hotspots of antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements.

  2017cited by this paper
• Antibiotic resistance genes and human bacterial pathogens: Co-occurrence, removal, and enrichment in municipal sewage sludge digesters.

  2016cited by this paper
• Global biogeography of microbial nitrogen-cycling traits in soil

  2016cited by this paper
• Contamination of sulfonamide antibiotics and sulfamethazine-resistant bacteria in the downstream and estuarine areas of Jiulong River in Southeast China

  2015cited by this paper
• Fate of sulfonamide resistance genes in estuary environment and effect of anthropogenic activities.

  2015cited by this paper
• Distinguishing effects of ultraviolet exposure and chlorination on the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in municipal wastewater.

  2015cited by this paper
• The role of class I integrons in the dissemination of sulfonamide resistance genes in the Pearl River and Pearl River Estuary, South China.

  2015cited by this paper
• Metagenomic and network analysis reveal wide distribution and co-occurrence of environmental antibiotic resistance genes

  2015cited by this paper
• Identification and assembly of genomes and genetic elements in complex metagenomic samples without using reference genomes

  2014cited by this paper
• Drawing Down N2O to Protect Climate and the Ozone Layer: A UNEP Synthesis Report

  2013cited by this paper
• A human gut microbial gene catalogue established by metagenomic sequencing

  2010cited by this paper
• Technical Report: Human Alteration of the Global Nitrogen Cycle: Sources and Consequences

  1997cited by this paper

• Phage-mediated resistome dynamics in global aquifers

  2026cites this paper
• Spatiotemporal transmission mechanisms of resistance genes in the Chishui River: Perspectives from environmental drivers and microbial interactions.

  2026cites this paper
• Simultaneous removal of nitrate and antibiotics by a coupled electrochemical system with N-doped Ce/Fe nanoclusters

  2026cites this paper
• Plasmid engineering reveals size-dependent effects of plastic particles on horizontal gene transfer via transformation in Escherichia coli: Critical roles of plasmid size and plastic particle-bacteria spatial configuration.

  2025cites this paper
• Review of the Effects of Antibiotics on Nitrogen Cycle and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Aquaculture Water

  2025cites this paper