Despite coastal mudflats serving as essential ecological zones interconnecting terrestrial/freshwater and marine systems,little is known about the profiles of antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)in this area.In this stud...Despite coastal mudflats serving as essential ecological zones interconnecting terrestrial/freshwater and marine systems,little is known about the profiles of antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)in this area.In this study,characteristics of typical ARGs,involving both intracellular(iARGs)and extracellular ARGs(eARGs)at different physical states,were explored in over 1000 km of coastal mudflats in Eastern China.Results indicated the presence of iARGs and eARGs at states of both freely present or attached by particles.The abundance of eARGs was significantly higher than that of iARGs(87.3%vs 12.7%),and their dominance was more significant than those in other habitats(52.7%-76.3%).ARG abundance,especially for eARGs,showed an increasing trend(p<0.05)from southern(Nantong)to northern(Lianyungang)coastalmudflats.Higher salinity facilitated the transformation from iARGs to eARGs,and smaller soil particle size was conducive to the persistence of eARGs in northern coastal mudflats.This study addresses the neglected function of coastal mudflats as eARGs reservoirs.展开更多
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.42177348)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(No.BK20201367)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2021M701663).
文摘Despite coastal mudflats serving as essential ecological zones interconnecting terrestrial/freshwater and marine systems,little is known about the profiles of antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)in this area.In this study,characteristics of typical ARGs,involving both intracellular(iARGs)and extracellular ARGs(eARGs)at different physical states,were explored in over 1000 km of coastal mudflats in Eastern China.Results indicated the presence of iARGs and eARGs at states of both freely present or attached by particles.The abundance of eARGs was significantly higher than that of iARGs(87.3%vs 12.7%),and their dominance was more significant than those in other habitats(52.7%-76.3%).ARG abundance,especially for eARGs,showed an increasing trend(p<0.05)from southern(Nantong)to northern(Lianyungang)coastalmudflats.Higher salinity facilitated the transformation from iARGs to eARGs,and smaller soil particle size was conducive to the persistence of eARGs in northern coastal mudflats.This study addresses the neglected function of coastal mudflats as eARGs reservoirs.
