Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41372750›Full record

ArticleBMC microbiology2025

Metagenomic insights into microbial communities and antibiotic resistance in treated wastewater for urban irrigation.

You Zhou, Lin Chang, Hui Sun, Wei Li, Tianqi Ao, Jin Lin

Abstract read
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Article in BMC microbiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

You ZhouThe National Key Laboratory Water Disaster Prevention, College of Water Resources and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
Lin ChangCollaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry and Grassland, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
Hui SunCollaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry and Grassland, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China. hui.sun@helsinki.fi.
Wei LiThe National Key Laboratory Water Disaster Prevention, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, No.223, Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China.
Tianqi AoThe National Key Laboratory Water Disaster Prevention, College of Water Resources and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
Jin LinThe National Key Laboratory Water Disaster Prevention, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, No.223, Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. jlin@nhri.cn.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe increasing reuse of treated wastewater for urban irrigation globally has raised ecological and public health concerns associated with microbial contaminations, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and pathogen dissemination.

methodsUsing a metagenomic approach, we analyzed microbial communities, ARGs, and pathogen profiles in three types of treated wastewater (W1, W2, W3) used for urban irrigation. Physicochemical properties, including nutrients and heavy metals, were also assessed to identify potential drivers of microbial and resistance patterns.

resultsSignificant variations in water quality and microbial community were observed across wastewater treatments. W2 showed the highest nutrient and organic pollution levels, while W3 exhibited elevated heavy metals such as zinc (83.37 µg/L), chromium (1.89 µg/L), and nickel (4.93 µg/L). Treated wastewater harbored significantly higher microbial diversity than tap water (P < 0.05), with W3 showing the most unique amplicon sequence variants (ASVs; 1 945, 7.31%). ARGs analysis revealed treatment-specific profiles: W1 was enriched in mupirocin and tetracycline resistance, W2 was dominated with beta-lactams and sulfonamides (P < 0.05), and W3 was enriched in fosfomycin and diaminopyrimidine resistance. Multidrug resistance genes dominated across all samples. PCoA revealed distinct microbial and ARGs structures across treatments (P < 0.05). Pathogens such as Salmonella enterica and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were abundant in treated wastewater, with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus identified as key pathogen hubs in ARG-pathogen co-occurrence networks. Nutrients (total nitrogen, phosphorus) and heavy metals (Fe and Pb) were key drivers of microbial community composition, ARGs abundance and pathogen prevalence.

conclusionsThis study underscores the ecological risks of using treated wastewater in urban environment, particularly due to the persistence of ARGs and pathogenic bacteria. Targeted removal of nutrients and heavy metals during wastewater treatment could help reduce microbial and resistance-related contamination, improving the safety of treated wastewater reuse.

Indexed as

Agricultural IrrigationBacteriaDrug Resistance, BacterialDrug Resistance, MicrobialMetagenomicsMicrobiotaWastewaterAnti-Bacterial AgentsCitiesMetals, HeavyWater MicrobiologyAnti-Bacterial AgentsMetals, HeavyWastewaterAntibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)Ecological riskMetagenomicsMicrobial communityPathogenTreated wastewater

Identifiers

PMID41372750
PMCPMC12805761

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.