Effect of sulfamethazine on the horizontal transfer of plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance genes and its mechanism of action

As a new type of environmental pollutant,antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)pose a huge challenge to global health.Horizontal gene transfer(HGT)represents an important route for the spread of ARGs.The widespread use of sulfamethazine(SM2)as a broad-spectrum bacteriostatic agent leads to high residual levels in the environment,thereby increasing the spread of ARGs.Therefore,we chose to study the effect of SM2 on the HGT of ARGs mediated by plasmid RP4 from Escherichia coli(E.coli)HB101 to E.coli NK5449 as well as its mechanism of action.The results showed that compared with the control group,SM2 at concentrations of 10 mg/L and 200 mg/L promoted the HGT of ARGs,but transfer frequency decreased at concentrations of 100 mg/L and 500 mg/L.The transfer frequency at 200 mg/L was 3.04×10^(−5),which was 1.34-fold of the control group.The mechanism of SM2 improving conjugation transfer is via enhancement of the mRNA expression of conjugation genes(trbBP,trfAP)and oxidative stress genes,inhibition of the mRNA expression of vertical transfer genes,up regulation of the outer membrane protein genes(ompC,ompA),promotion of the formation of cell pores,and improvement of the permeability of cell membrane to promote the conjugation transfer of plasmid RP4.The results of this study provide theoretical support for studying the spread of ARGs in the environment.

Metals in sediment/pore water in Chaohu Lake:Distribution,trends and flux

Nine metals, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, As, Cr, Zn, Fe, and Mn in sediment and pore water from 57 sampling sites in Chaohu Lake （Anhui Province, China） were analyzed for spatial distribution, temporal trends and diffuse flux in 2010. Metals in the surface sediment were generally the highest in the western lake center and Nanfei-Dianbu River estuary, with another higher area of As, Fe, and Mn occurring in the Qiyang River estuary. Metal contamination assessment using the New York sediment screening criteria showed that the sediment was severely contaminated in 44% of the area with Mn, 20% with Zn, 16% with Fe, 14% with As, and 6% with Cr and Ni. An increasing trend of toxic metals （Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, As, Cr, Zn） and Mn with depth was shown in the western lake. Compared with metal content data from the sediment survey conducted in 1980s, the metal content of surface sediment in 2010 was 2.0 times that in the 1980s for Cr, Cu, Zn, and As in the western lake, and less than 1.5 times higher for most of the metals in the eastern lake. Among the metals, only Mn and As had a widespread positive diffuse flux from the pore water to overlying water across the whole lake. The estimated flux in the whole lake was on average 3.36 mg/（m2.day） for Mn and 0.08 mg/（m2.day） for As, which indicated a daily increase of 0.93 μg/L for Mn and 0.02 μg/L for As in surface water. The increasing concentration of metals in the sediment and the flux of metals from pore water to overlying water by diffusion and other physical processes should not be ignored for drinking-water sources.

Rhizosphere effect of different aquatic plants on phosphorus depletion

A series of pot experiments with Alternanthera philoxeroides,Typha latifolia,Sagittaria sagittifolia and Phragmites communis were conducted to assess the phosphorus depletion effect in the rhizosphere.The ratio of root to shoot,root morphology,phosphorus uptake efficiency and phosphorus utilization efficiency were analyzed.An obvious variation in phosphorus concentrations between the rhizosphere soil and non-rhizosphere soil was observed.The water-soluble P contents in the rhizosphere soil of A.philoxeroides,T.latifolia,S.sagittifolia and P.communis were reduced by 81%,42%,18%and 16%,respectively,compared with that in the non-rhizosphere soil.A.philoxeroides had the highest phosphorus uptake efficiency(1.32 mg/m),while T.latifolia achieved the effective phosphorus depletion by the strong rooting system and the high phosphorus uptake efficiency(0.52 mg/m).T.latifolia not only used phosphorus to produce biomass economically,but also adjusted carbon allocation to the roots to explore the soil for more available phosphorus.A.philoxeroides and T.latifolia were more effective in depleting phosphorus in the rhizosphere than S.sagittifolia and P.communis.

Enhanced remediation of chlorpyrifos-contaminated soil by immobilized strain Bacillus H27

Chlorpyrifos is a pesticide widely used in agricultural production with a relatively long residual half-life in soil.Addressing the problem of residual chlorpyrifos is of universal concern.In this study,rice hull biochar was used as an immobilized carrier to prepare the immobilized strain H27 for the remediation of chlorpyrifos-contamination soil.Soil microorganisms after remediation were investigated by ecotoxicological methods.The immobilized strain H27 had the highest removal rate of chlorpyrifos when 10%bacterial solution was added to the liquid medium containing 0.075-0.109 mm diameter biochar cultured for 22 hr.This study on the removal of chlorpyrifos by immobilized strain H27 showed that the initial concentration of chlorpyrifos in solution was 25mg/L,and the removal rate reached 97.4%after 7 days of culture.In the soil,the removal rate of the immobilized bacteria group increased throughout the experiment,which was significantly higher than that of the free bacteria and biochar treatment groups.The Biolog-ECO test,T-RFLP and RT-RCR were used to study the effects of the soil microbial community and nitrogen cycling functional genes during chlorpyrifos degradation.It was found that ICP group had the highest diversity index among the four treatment groups.The microflora of segment containing 114 bp was the dominant bacterial community,and the dominant microflora of the immobilized bacteria group was more evenly distributed.The influence of each treatment group on ammonia-oxidizing bacteria(AOB)was greater than on ammonia-oxidizing archaea(AOA).This study offers a sound scientific basis for the practical application of immobilized bacteria to reduce residual soil pesticides.