Viral Communities Suppress the Earthworm Gut Antibiotic Resistome by Lysing Bacteria on a National Scale

Shuai Du, Li Bi, Da Lin, Xian Qing Zheng (Lead / Corresponding author), Roy Neilson, Dong Zhu (Lead / Corresponding author)

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Earthworms are critical in regulating soil processes and act as filters for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Yet, the geographic patterns and main drivers of earthworm gut ARGs remain largely unknown. We collected 52 earthworm and soil samples from arable and forest ecosystems along a 3000 km transect across China, analyzing the diversity and abundance of ARGs using shotgun metagenomics. Earthworm guts harbored a lower diversity and abundance of ARGs compared to soil, resulting in a stronger distance-decay rate of ARGs in the gut. Greater deterministic assembly processes of ARGs were found in the gut than in soil. The earthworm gut had a lower frequency of co-occurrence patterns between ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in forest than in arable systems. Viral diversity was higher in the gut compared to soil and was negatively correlated with bacterial diversity. Bacteria such as Streptomyces and Pseudomonas were potential hosts of both viruses and ARGs. Viruses had negative effects on the diversity and abundance of ARGs, likely due to the lysis on ARG-bearing bacteria. These findings provide new insights into the variations of ARGs in the earthworm gut and highlight the vital role of viruses in the regulation of ARGs in the soil ecosystem.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13961-13972
Number of pages12
JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
Volume58
Issue number31
Early online date22 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Aug 2024

Keywords

  • antibiotic resistance gene
  • co-occurrence pattern
  • distance-decay rate
  • earthworm
  • gut microbiome
  • land use
  • viral community

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Environmental Chemistry

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