article · Nature Communications
Analysis of 226 activated sludge samples taken from 142 wastewater treatment plants across six continents reveals the global distribution and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes. Across all facilities, these resistance genes exhibit similar abundance and high diversity, sharing a core set of 20 distinct genes. While resistance profiles vary across continents and differ markedly from profiles found in oceans and the human gut, they correlate strongly with bacterial taxonomy, identifying Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria as the primary bacterial carriers. Furthermore, resistance gene abundance correlates with mobile genetic elements, with 57 per cent of 1,112 recovered high-quality bacterial genomes carrying putatively mobile resistance genes. The variation among these resistomes is shaped by a complex interplay of deterministic environmental factors alongside stochastic processes.
Antibiotic resistance is a critical threat to global human health, and wastewater treatment plants represent major reservoirs for resistance genes. Establishing how these genes are distributed across continents and identifying the primary bacterial hosts helps public health and environmental bodies monitor the pathways through which potentially transmissible resistance elements persist in municipal water systems.
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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.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59019-3
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