Antibiotics, Antibiotic Resistance Genes, and Bacterial Community Composition in Fresh Water Aquaculture Environment in China

Environmental antibiotic resistance has drawn increasing attention due to its great threat to human health. In this study, we investigated concentrations of antibiotics (tetracyclines, sulfonamides and (fluoro)quinolones) and abundances of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), including tetracycline resistance genes, sulfonamide resistance genes, and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes, and analyzed bacterial community composition in aquaculture environment in Guangdong, China. The concentrations of sulfametoxydiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, oxytetracycline, chlorotetracycline, doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and enrofloxacin were as high as 446 μg kg−1 and 98.6 ng L−1 in sediment and water samples, respectively. The relative abundances (ARG copies/16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene copies) of ARGs (sul1, sul2, sul3, tetM, tetO, tetW, tetS, tetQ, tetX, tetB/P, qepA, oqxA, oqxB, aac(6′)-Ib, and qnrS) were as high as 2.8 × 10−2. The dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes in sediment samples and Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes in water samples. The genera associated with pathogens were also observed, such as Acinetobacter, Arcobacter, and Clostridium. This study comprehensively investigated antibiotics, ARGs, and bacterial community composition in aquaculture environment in China. The results indicated that fish ponds are reservoirs of ARGs and the presence of potential resistant and pathogen-associated taxonomic groups in fish ponds might imply the potential risk to human health.