IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-59019-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in human wastewater treatment systems

Author

Listed:
  • Congmin Zhu

    (Capital Medical University
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University
    University of Oklahoma)

  • Linwei Wu

    (University of Oklahoma
    Peking University)

  • Daliang Ning

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Renmao Tian

    (University of Oklahoma
    Illinois Institute of Technology)

  • Shuhong Gao

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Bing Zhang

    (Tsinghua University
    Minzu University of China)

  • Jianshu Zhao

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Ya Zhang

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Naijia Xiao

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Yajiao Wang

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Mathew R. Brown

    (Newcastle University)

  • Qichao Tu

    (Shandong University)

  • Feng Ju

    (Westlake University
    Westlake Institute for Advanced Study)

  • George F. Wells

    (Northwestern University)

  • Jianhua Guo

    (The University of Queensland)

  • Zhili He

    (Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory
    Hunan Agricultural University)

  • Per H. Nielsen

    (Aalborg University)

  • Aijie Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yu Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Ting Chen

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Qiang He

    (The University of Tennessee
    The University of Tennessee)

  • Craig S. Criddle

    (Stanford University)

  • Michael Wagner

    (University of Vienna)

  • James M. Tiedje

    (Michigan State University)

  • Thomas P. Curtis

    (Newcastle University)

  • Xianghua Wen

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Yunfeng Yang

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Lisa Alvarez-Cohen

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • David A. Stahl

    (University of Washington)

  • Pedro J. J. Alvarez

    (Rice University)

  • Bruce E. Rittmann

    (Arizona State University)

  • Jizhong Zhou

    (University of Oklahoma
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    University of Oklahoma
    University of Oklahoma)

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to human health, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are important reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Here, we analyze the antibiotic resistomes of 226 activated sludge samples from 142 WWTPs across six continents, using a consistent pipeline for sample collection, DNA sequencing and analysis. We find that ARGs are diverse and similarly abundant, with a core set of 20 ARGs present in all WWTPs. ARG composition differs across continents and is distinct from that of the human gut and the oceans. ARG composition strongly correlates with bacterial taxonomic composition, with Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria being the major carriers. ARG abundance positively correlates with the presence of mobile genetic elements, and 57% of the 1112 recovered high-quality genomes possess putatively mobile ARGs. Resistome variations appear to be driven by a complex combination of stochastic processes and deterministic abiotic factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Congmin Zhu & Linwei Wu & Daliang Ning & Renmao Tian & Shuhong Gao & Bing Zhang & Jianshu Zhao & Ya Zhang & Naijia Xiao & Yajiao Wang & Mathew R. Brown & Qichao Tu & Feng Ju & George F. Wells & Jianhu, 2025. "Global diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in human wastewater treatment systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59019-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59019-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59019-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.