Microbial community and antimicrobial resistance niche differentiation in a multistage, surface flow constructed wetland

Bydalek, Franciszek, Webster, Gordon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-7835, Barden, Ruth, Weightman, Andrew J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6671-2209, Kasprzyk-Hordern, Barbara and Wenk, Jannis 2024. Microbial community and antimicrobial resistance niche differentiation in a multistage, surface flow constructed wetland. Water Research 254 , 121408. 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121408

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Abstract

Free-living (FL) and particulate-associated (PA) communities are distinct bacterioplankton lifestyles with different mobility and dissemination routes. Understanding spatio-temporal dynamics of PA and FL fractions will allow improvement to wastewater treatment processes including pathogen and AMR bacteria removal. In this study, PA, FL and sediment community composition and antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG; tetW, ermB, sul1, intI1) dynamics were investigated in a full-scale municipal wastewater free-water surface polishing constructed wetland. Taxonomic composition of PA and FL microbial communities shifted towards less diverse communities (Shannon, Chao1) at the CW effluent but retained a distinct fraction-specific composition. Wastewater treatment plant derived PA communities introduced the bulk of AMR load (70 %) into the CW. However, the FL fraction was responsible for exporting over 60 % of the effluent AMR load given its high mobility and the effective immobilization (1–3 log removal) of PA communities. Strong correlations (r2>0.8, p < 0.05) were observed between the FL fraction, tetW and emrB dynamics, and amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of potentially pathogenic taxa, including Bacteroides, Enterobacteriaceae, Aeromonadaceae, and Lachnospiraceae. This study reveals niche differentiation of microbial communities and associated AMR in CWs and shows that free-living bacteria are a primary escape route of pathogenic and ARG load from CWs under low-flow hydraulic conditions.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0043-1354
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	19 March 2024
Date of Acceptance:	29 February 2024
Last Modified:	27 Mar 2024 10:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167354

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