The Innovation Team of Soil-Plant Interactions at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has made significant progress in the mechanism of interaction between emerging pollutants (microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes). The related research results, titled "Polyvinyl chloride microplastics disseminate antibiotic resistance genes in Chinese soil: A metagenomic analysis," were published in Journal of Hazardous Materials (IF=12.2).

Microplastic pollution has been identified as the second largest scientific issue in the global environmental and ecological field. Antibiotic resistance was also the third leading cause of global disease-related deaths in 2019 (after ischemic heart disease and stroke). Microplastics are considered hotspots for horizontal gene transfer among microorganisms, which may promote the spread of antibiotic resistant genes among different bacterial communities, thereby accelerating the emergence of resistant bacteria. Polyvinyl chloride microplastics are one of the most widely used and detected microplastics in natural environments, with a long history of application in Chinese facility agriculture. There is still a large amount of polyvinyl chloride microplastics persisting in farmland soils. Therefore, studying the impacts of microplastics on the abundance and transmission mechanism of antibiotic resistant genes in soil is crucial for the development of strategies to control emerging pollutants.

The research team systematically analyzed the changes in soil microbial community composition and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in 20 provinces in China (across 7 geographical regions). They found that soil properties and meteorological conditions are important factors influencing soil microbial community composition and abundance of resistance genes. However, the presence of microplastics significantly altered the abundance and diversity of soil bacterial communities and resistance genes in almost all regions. The relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes such as basS, rosB, arlR, semS, arnA, and tetA showed a significant positive correlation with microplastics. Microplastics affect the spread of resistance genes by altering the presence and abundance of bacterial hosts. The study emphasizes that microplastics have become a unique and important habitat for resistant microbes in soil, providing important evidence for a deeper understanding of the mechanism of microplastics affecting the proliferation of resistance genes. It also provides theoretical support for the development of strategies to control emerging pollutants and minimize human health risks.

Dr. Zhao Shuwen, a doctor candidate at the IARRP is the first author, and Professor Zhang Qianru is the corresponding author. The research was jointly funded by the State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, the National Key R&D Program, and the International Science & Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agriculture Science.

[Citation]:

Zhao, S., Zhang, Q., Huang, Q., Zhang, C., Li, H., Siddique, K. H. 2024. Polyvinyl chloride microplastics disseminate antibiotic resistance genes in Chinese soil: A metagenomic analysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 135727.

[Original Article Link]: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135727