Abstract
Transport of engineered antibiotic resistance plasmids in porous media has been reported to potentially cause significant spreading of antibiotic resistance in the environment. In this work, transport of an indigenous resistance plasmid pK5 in porous media was investigated through packed column experiments. At identical ionic strengths in CaCl2 solutions, the breakthroughs of pK5 from soil columns were very close to those from quartz sand columns, indicating that transport of pK5 in quartz sand and soil was similar. A similarity in transport behavior was also found between pK5 and an engineered plasmid pBR322 that has approximately the same number of base pairs as pK5. The influence of surfactants, a major group of constituents in soil solutions, was examined using an engineered plasmid pcDNA3.1(+)/myc-His A. The impact of an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), was negligible at concentrations up to 200 mg·L–1. Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), a cationic surfactant, was found to significantly enhance plasmid adsorption at high concentrations. However, at environmentally relevant concentrations (<1 mg·L–1), the effect of this surfactant was also minimal. The negligible impact of surfactants and the similarity between the transport of engineered and indigenous plasmids indicate that under environmentally relevant conditions, indigenous plasmids in soil also have the potential to transport over long distances and lead to the spreading of antibiotic resistance.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Chee-Sanford J C, Mackie R I, Koike S, Krapac I G, Lin Y F, Yannarell A C, Maxwell S, Aminov R I. Fate and transport of antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance genes following land application of manure waste. Journal of Environmental Quality, 2009, 38(3): 1086–1108
Gielen G J H P, Heuvel M R, Clinton P W, Greenfield L G. Factors impacting on pharmaceutical leaching following sewage application to land. Chemosphere, 2009, 74(4): 537–542
Gatica J, Cytryn E. Impact of treated wastewater irrigation on antibiotic resistance in the soil microbiome. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 2013, 20(6): 3529–3538
Marti R, Scott A, Tien Y C, Murray R, Sabourin L, Zhang Y, Topp E. Impact of manure fertilization on the abundance of antibioticresistant bacteria and frequency of detection of antibiotic resistance genes in soil and on vegetables at harvest. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2013, 79(18): 5701–5709
Finley R L, Collignon P, Larsson D G, McEwen S A, Li X Z, Gaze W H, Reid-Smith R, Timinouni M, Graham D W, Topp E. The scourge of antibiotic resistance: the important role of the environment. Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2013, 57(5): 704–710
Davies J. Inactivation of antibiotics and the dissemination of resistance genes. Science, 1994, 264(5157): 375–382
Heuer H, Smalla K. Plasmids foster diversification and adaptation of bacterial populations in soil. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 2012, 36(6): 1083–1104
Davison J. Genetic exchange between bacteria in the environment. Plasmid, 1999, 42(2): 73–91
Backert S, Meyer T F. Type IV secretion systems and their effectors in bacterial pathogenesis. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 2006, 9(2): 207–217
Levy-Booth D J, Campbell R G, Gulden R H, HartMM, Powell J R, Klironomos J N, Pauls K P, Swanton C J, Trevors J T, Dunfield K E. Cycling of extracellular DNA in the soil environment. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 2007, 39(12): 2977–2991
Cai P, Huang Q Y, Zhang X W. Interactions of DNA with clay minerals and soil colloidal particles and protection against degradation by DNase. Environmental Science & Technology, 2006, 40(9): 2971–2976
Ogram A, Sayler G S, Gustin D, Lewis R J. DNA adsorption to soils and sediments. Environmental Science & Technology, 1988, 22(8): 982–984
Pietramellara G, Franchi M, Gallori E, Nannipieri P. Effect of molecular characteristics of DNA on its adsorption and binding on homoionic montmorillonite and kaolinite. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 2001, 33(5): 402–409
Poté J, Ceccherini M T, Van V T, Rosselli W, Wildi W, Simonet P, Vogel T M. Fate and transport of antibiotic resistance genes in saturated soil columns. European Journal of Soil Biology, 2003, 39(2): 65–71
Poté J, Teresa Ceccherini M, Rosselli W, Wildi W, Simonet P, Vogel T M. Leaching and transformability of transgenic DNA in unsaturated soil columns. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2010, 73(1): 67–72
Rysz M, Alvarez P J J. Transport of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance-carrying plasmids through porous media. Water Science and Technology: A Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research, 2006, 54(11): 363–370
Chen C, Li J, De Vries S L, Zhang P, Li X. Transport of antibiotic resistance plasmids in porous media. Vadose Zone Journal, 2015, 14 (3), doi: 10.2136/vzj2014.06.0068
del Valle M, Alonso J, Bartrolí J, Martí I. Spectrophotometric determination of low levels of anionic surfactants in water by solvent extraction in a flow injection system. Analyst (London), 1988, 113(11): 1677–1681
Corada-Fernández C, Jiménez-Martínez J, Candela L, González-Mazo E, Lara-Martín P A. Occurrence and spatial distribution of emerging contaminants in the unsaturated zone. Case study: Guadalete River Basin (Cadiz, Spain). Chemosphere, 2015, 119 (S): S131–S137
Mungray A K, Kumar P. Anionic surfactants in treated sewage and sludges: risk assessment to aquatic and terrestrial environments. Bioresource Technology, 2008, 99(8): 2919–2929
Cantarero S, Prieto C A, López I. Occurrence of high-tonnage anionic surfactants in Spanish sewage sludge. Journal of Environmental Management, 2012, 95(S): S149–S153
Eskilsson K, Leal C, Lindman B, Miguel M, Nylander T. DNAsurfactant complexes at solid surfaces. Langmuir, 2001, 17(5): 1666–1669
Braem A D, Campos-Terán J, Lindman B. Influence of DNA adsorption and DNA/cationic surfactant coadsorption on the interaction forces between hydrophobic surfaces. Langmuir, 2004, 20(15): 6407–6413
Cárdenas M, Braem A, Nylander T, Lindman B. DNA compaction at hydrophobic surfaces induced by a cationic amphiphile. Langmuir, 2003, 19(19): 7712–7718
Cárdenas M, Wacklin H, Campbell R A, Nylander T. Structure of DNA-cationic surfactant complexes at hydrophobically modified and hydrophilic silica surfaces as revealed by neutron reflectometry. Langmuir, 2011, 27(20): 12506–12514
Adamczyk Z, Siwek B, Zembala M, Weronski P. Kinetics of localized adsorption of colloid particles. Langmuir, 1992, 8(11): 2605–2610
Adamczyk Z, Barbasz J, Cieśla M. Mechanisms of fibrinogen adsorption at solid substrates. Langmuir, 2011, 27(11): 6868–6878
Xie Y, Li S, Wu K, Wang J, Liu G. A hybrid adsorption/ultrafiltration process for perchlorate removal. Journal of Membrane Science, 2011, 366(1–2): 237–244
Elimelech M, O’Melia C R. Kinetics of deposition of colloidal particles in porous media. Environmental Science & Technology, 1990, 24(10): 1528–1536
Yee N, Fein J B, Daughney C J. Experimental study of the pH, ionic strength, and reversibility behavior of bacteria–mineral adsorption. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2000, 64(4): 609–617
Edmeades D C, Wheeler D M, Clinton O E. The chemicalcomposition and ionic-strength of soil solutions from New Zealand topsoils. Australian Journal of Soil Research, 1985, 23(2): 151–165
Olkowska E, Ruman M, Kowalska A, Polkowska Ż. Determination of surfactants in environmental samples. Part I. Cationic compounds. Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S-Chemia I Inzynieria Ekologiczna S, 2013, 20(1): 69–77
Samardžić M, Galović O, Petrušić S, Sak-Bosnar M. The analysis of anionic surfactants in effluents using a DDA-TPB potentiometric sensor. International Journal of Electrochemical Science, 2014, 9(11): 6166–6181
Lara-Martín P A, Gómez-Parra A, González-Mazo E. Simultaneous extraction and determination of anionic surfactants in waters and sediments. Journal of Chromatography. A, 2006, 1114(2): 205–210
Olkowska E, Ruman M, Kowalska A, Polkowska Ż. Determination of surfactants in environmental samples. Part II. Anionic compounds. Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S-Chemia I Inzynieria Ekologiczna S, 2013, 20(2): 331–342
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41171362) and by the Undergraduate Student Research Training Program of the Ministry of Education of China. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, P., Chen, C. & Li, X. Transport of antibiotic resistance plasmids in porous media and the influence of surfactants. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 12, 5 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0986-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0986-7