a4单页 - sustech...tel: 852-28578551, e-mail: [email protected] school of public health, the...

International Symposium on Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment

国际环境耐药基因研讨会2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

03 / Organization and Introduction

Invited Speakers04 /

Symposium program

Oral session

Poster session

17-19/

17 /

19 /

Abstracts of invited talks20 /

Introduction to SUSTech32 /

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03

Organization and Introduction

Venue

Room 110, Library, Southern University of Science and TechnologyNo. 1088, Xueyuan Rd., Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China

Date

30 November – 3 December 2017

Symposium Website

http://ese.sustc.edu.cn/News/nDetail.aspx?nc=101033002001&id=100000189656945

Symposium Chair

Professor Tong Zhang

Environmental Biotechnology LabEnvironmental Engineering Research CentreDepartment of Civil Engineering The University of Hong Kong Tel: 852-28578551, E-mail: [email protected]

School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong

Symposium Organizers

International Center for Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (iCARE)School of Environmental Science and EngineeringSouthern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, ChinaEnvironmental Biotechnology LaboratoryDepartment of Civil Engineering The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Symposium Co-sponsors

Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control of Shenzhen CityGuangdong Provincial Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control

Local Organizing Committee

Professor Tong Zhang (HKU & SUSTech)Professor Keiji Fukuda (HKU) Dr. Bing Li (Tsinghua University) Dr. Yu Xia (SUSTech)

Symposium Secretariat

Dr. Liping Ma ([email protected]; 86-13122823498)Ms. Yang Xu ([email protected]; 86-755-88018011)Ms. Han Yan ([email protected]; 86-755-88018064)Ms. Xiaoli Wang ([email protected]; 86-755-88010821)

Honorary Professor

International Center for Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (iCARE)School of Environmental Science and EngineeringSouthern University of Science and TechnologyTel: 86-755-88010821, E-mail: [email protected]

Director



Professor Chunmiao Zheng (SUSTech)Professor Yan Zheng (SUSTech)Dr. Ying Yang (Sun Yat-sen University)

Invited Speakers

Muriel and George Singer Professor of MedicineProfessor of MicrobiologyDirector, Human Microbiome ProgramNew York University

Title of the keynote talkAntimicrobial resistance: the scale of the problem and approaches to solving it

Martin J. Blaser is the Muriel and George Singer Professor of Medicine, Professor of Microbiology, and Director of the Human Microbiome Program at the NYU School of Medicine. He served as Chair of the Department of Medicine at NYU from 2000-2012. A physician and microbiologist, Dr. Blaser is interested in understanding the relationships we have with our persistently colonizing bacteria. His work over 30 years focused on particular organisms, including Campylobacter species and Helicobacter pylori, which also are model systems for understanding the interactions of residential bacteria with their human hosts. Over the last 15 years, he has been actively studying the relationship of the human microbiome with health and with such important diseases as asthma, obesity, diabetes, and allergies. Over the course of his career, Dr. Blaser has served as the advisor for a large number of students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty. He served as President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute, Chair of the Advisory Board for Clinical Research of the National Institutes of Health, and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy for Arts and Sciences. He holds 28 U.S. patents relating to his research, and has authored over 550 original articles. Recently, he wrote “Missing Microbes”, a book targeted to general audiences. He now is serving as the Chair of the Presidential Advisory Council for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.

James M. Tiedje

The Center for Microbial EcologyUniversity Distinguished Professor and DirectorMichigan State University

Title of the keynote talkAntimicrobial resistance as pollutants in agricultural soil

Dr. Tiedje is University Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, and is Director of the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. His research focuses on microbial ecology, physiology and diversity, especially regarding the nitrogen cycle, biodegradation of environmental pollutants and use of molecular methods to understand microbial community structure and function. His group has discovered several microbes that biodegrade chlorinated pollutants and is using genomics to better understand microbial functions in their environment. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Editor of Microbial and Molecular Biology Reviews. He has over 500 refereed publications including seven in Science and Nature. He shared the 1992 Finley Prize from UNESCO for research contributions in microbiology of international significance, is Fellow of the AAAS (The American Association for the Advancement of Science), the American Academy of Microbiology, and the Soil Science Society of America, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He was President of the American Society for Microbiology and the International Society for Microbial Ecology. He received his B.S. degree from Iowa State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University.

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Martin J. Blaser

Director and Clinical ProfessorDivision of Community Medicine and Public Health PracticeThe University of Hong Kong

Title of the keynote talkApplying a global, multi-sector approach to reversing AMR

Keiji Fukuda is the Director and a Clinical Professor at The University of Hong Kong School of Public Health. He previously worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) in several capacities including Assistant Director-General (ADG) and Special Representative of the Director-General for antimicrobial resistance; ADG for the Health Security and Environment Cluster; and Director of the Global Influenza Programme. Before that, he worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the Epidemiology Section Chief, Influenza Branch and as a Medical Epidemiologist in the Viral Exanthems and Herpesvirus Branch, National Center for Infectious Diseases. Professor Fukuda has been a global public health leader in many areas including health security; emerging infectious diseases including seasonal, avian and pandemic influenza, SARS, MERS and Ebola; antimicrobial resistance; development of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework; implementation of the International Health Regulations; food safety; and chronic fatigue syndrome. He has considerable experience in epidemiological research and field investigations, media communications and international diplomatic negotiations including those held to establish a historic Heads of State level meeting on antimicrobial resistance at the United Nations in 2016. He has a BA in Biology, an MD; an MPH; was trained in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at CDC and is certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Keiji Fukuda

Pedro J. J. Alvarez

Department Chair & George R. Brown Professor of EngineeringRice University

Title of the invited talk Proliferation and Control of Multidrug-Resistant “Superbugs” in Sewage Treatment Plants

Dr. Pedro J. J. Alvarez is the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, where he also serves as Director of the NSF ERC on Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT). His research interests include environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology, bioremediation of toxic chemicals, water footprint of biofuels, water treatment and reuse, and antibiotic resistance control. Dr. Alvarez received the B. Eng. Degree in Civil Engineering from McGill University and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is the 2012 Clarke Prize laureate and also won the 2014 AAEES Grand Prize for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science. Past honors include President of AEESP, the AEESP Frontiers in Research Award, the WEF McKee Medal for Groundwater Protection, the SERDP cleanup project of the year award, and various best paper awards with his students. Dr. Alvarez currently serves on the advisory board of NSF Engineering Directorate and as Associate Editor of Environmental Science and Technology. Additionally, he serves as honorary professor at Nankai University in Tianjin and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and as adjunct professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Florianopolis, Brazil. He recently completed service on the EPA’s Science Advisory Board.

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Senior research scientistHead of the Microbial Ecology research groupEawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science

Title of the invited talk Dynamics and Transcription of the Resistome in Swiss Wastewater Treatment Plants

Helmut Bürgmann is a microbial ecologist working with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) in Kastanienbaum, Switzerland. His research interests include many aspects of the ecology and environmental roles of freshwater and wastewater bacterial communities; Since 2009 he has conducted research the role of wastewater as a source of contamination of aquatic environments with antimicrobial resistance determinants. His research is focused on studying the phenomenon of environmental antibiotic resistance dissemination from a microbial community viewpoint. Gene-targeted and metagenomic approaches are combined with cultivation based studies to obtain a broad picture of resistance in the aquatic environment. Dr. Bürgmann has provided expert advice to define the environmental aspects of the Swiss national strategy against antibiotic resistance (StAR), and he is active in various international research collaborations on this topic (COST actions DARE and NEREUS, HEARD network).

Helmut Bürgmann

Chang-Jun Cha

ProfessorDepartment of Biotechnology, College of Natural ScienceChung-Ang University

Title of the invited talkPolymorphism of antibiotic-inactivating enzyme driven by ecology expands the environmental resistome

Professor Chang-Jun Cha obtained his BSc at the Department of Microbiology, Seoul National University, Korea and his Ph.D. at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK. His PhD thesis was about the metabolism and enzymology of aromatic ring degradation in nocardioform actinomycetes. After his postdoctoral research at the National Center for Toxicological Research of U.S. FDA, he became a faculty member of Department of Systems Biotechnology, Chung-Ang University, Korea, where he is also acting as a director of Institute of Microbiomics and Center for Antibiotic Resistome. He was a member of local organizing committee of ISME-15 meeting held in Korea. His main research theme is microbial degradation of environmental pollutants including antimicrobials, especially focusing on discovery of novel resistance mechanisms by enzymatic inactivation. He is currently leading a national project developing “National Surveillance System of Environmental Resistome” by both culture-dependent and – independent methods.

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ProfessorDepartment of Environmental Engineering, College of Environmental & Resource Sciences Zhejiang University

Title of the invited talk Antibiotic Resistome Promotion in water treatment systems

Dr. Hong Chen earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at Zhejiang University. She has served as a research associate at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, and a visiting scholar at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Now she is a professor of environmental biology, deputy head of Department of Environmental Engineering College of Environment and Resources, Zhejiang University. Research backgrounds include behavior characteristics of emerging pollutant, antimicrobial resistance in the water environment and water treatment systems; microbial ecology and functional genomics in wastewater biological treatment process. Currently, Dr. Chen has published more than 40 papers on the journals including Environmental Science & Technology, Environment International.

Hong Chen

Jie Feng

ProfessorInstitute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Title of the invited talkHorizontal gene transfer drives rapid acquisition of antimicrobial resistance

Dr. Jie Feng is Principal Investigator and Professor in Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. JF leads the mechanism of antibiotic resistance group and her group is committed to investigating the novel acquired and intrinsic resistance genes in in pathogen, as well as in environmental bacteria, and uncovering the mechanism of dissemination of resistance. JF is the corresponding author of more than 20 peer review publications, some in high impact journal (Genome Research, Plos genetics, Environmental Microbiology). She is member of the editorial board for Scientific Reports.

07



Professor of Molecular EvolutionDepartment of Biological SciencesMacquarie University

Title of the invited talk The origins and final destinations of antibiotic resistance - Class 1 integrons

Michael Gillings is in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University, where he is Professor of Molecular Evolution. In general, his interests focus on genetic diversity and its role in evolution. This allows an eclectic research program, with papers on viruses, bacteria, fungi, diatoms, green algae, invertebrates, plants, sharks, and mammals in the last five years. Two of his main research programs include the origins and environmental consequences of antibiotic resistance, and the new geological era of the Anthropocene, precipitated by human effects on planetary systems. He teaches a large first year class, with 1100 students, and contributes regularly to radio, television and on-line forums.

Michael Gillings

Bing Li

Associate professorDivision of Energy & EnvironmentGraduate School at Shenzhen Tsinghua University

Title of the invited talkHuman ARGs profiles revealed by a big data analysis

Dr. Bing LI is working as the associate professor in Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, China. He received his Ph.D degree in Environmental Engineering from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2011 and was awarded the HKU “Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student Award”. His research interests mainly focus on the application of high-throughput sequencing to investigate the fates of antibiotics resistant bacteria and genes in drinking water/sewage treatment plants as well as natural environments, to characterize the microbial community and gene expression related to soil/sediment bioremediation, as well as biodegradation pathway of emerging pollutants via metagenomic & metatranscriptomic approaches. Currently, Dr. Li has published 37 papers on the journals including ISME J, Microbiome, Environmental Microbiology and Environmental Science & Technology etc. with 1400+ citations.

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Chair Professor in Environmental Science and TechnologyDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Title of the invited talk Preliminary evaluation of ARGs in urban air PMs, China

Professor Xiang-dong Li is Chair Professor of Environmental Science and Technology at Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Associate Dean (Research) of Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He obtained his BSc in Earth Sciences and his MSc in Geochemistry from Nanjing University, and his PhD in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London. Prof. Li’s major research interests include regional environmental pollution, urban environmental studies, and phytoremediation of contaminated soils. He has published more than 180 papers in leading international journals, and is one of the highly cited researchers in Environment/Ecology of the Web of Science database (ResearcherID B-2211-2008). Professor Li is the past president (2011-2013) of the International Society of Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH). He is currently an Associate Editor for Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T). Prof. Li is also an associate editor and editorial board member for several other international journals in related research fields.

Xiang-Dong Li

Yi Luo

ProfessorCollege of Environmental Science and TechnologyNankai University

Title of the invited talk Conjugative multi-resistant plasmids mediated ARGs proliferation in the environment

Dr. Yi Luo is a professor at College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University in Tianjin, China. She is the chair of “Environmental pollution process and criteria” the key laboratory of the ministry of education. She received her phD in Environmental science from Nanjing University in 2006 and joined Nankai University the same year. She obtained the foundation of “National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars” in 2015 and she received the award of the thirteenth “Chinese young women scientist award” in 2016. She has 90 peer reviewed publications and several book chapters. Her research group focus on the occurrence, fate and proliferation of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. She found the high occurrence of antibiotics and ARGs in the Haihe River, China, and found that they were closely relate to the over usage of antibiotics in that region. She detected the New Delhi metallo - - lactamase (NDM-1) gene and its host bacteria named the “superbug” in wastewater treatment plant (WWTPs). She also found several classes of ILs have the ability to enhance the proliferation and replication of ARGs among environmental bacteria.

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W. Thomas Rice ProfessorCivil & Environmental EngineeringVirginia Tech

Title of the invited talk ARGs as pollutions in wastewater and recycled water

Amy Pruden is the W. Thomas Rice Professor of Engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA USA. She earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences and Ph.D. in Environmental Science, in 1997 and 2002 from the University of Cincinnati, and served as an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering at Colorado State University from 2002-2008, Joining the Civil & Environmental Engineering faculty at Virginia Tech in 2008. Her primary expertise is on tracking pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes through environmental systems and developing engineering control strategies for protecting public health. Her broad research mission is to advance the sustainability and health of our water systems through fundamental understanding of microbial ecology. Dr. Pruden received the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering in 2007 and the Paul L. Busch Award in 2014. Her 2014 article “Balancing Water Sustainability and Public Health Goals in the Face of Growing Concerns about Antibiotic Resistance,” was recognized as the Editor’s Choice Best Feature Article in Environmental Science and Technology in 2014. Currently she is a co-PI on a National Science Foundation Partnership in International Research and Education (PIRE) grant, in collaboration with several international scientists, focused on comparing the "resistome" of wastewater treatment plants on an international scale. Dr. Pruden is an Associate Editor for Environmental Science and Technology and currently serves on the American Society for Microbiology Antimicrobial Resistance Coalition Steering Committee. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Water Research Foundation, Water Environment Research Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Amy Pruden

Pascal Simonet

CNRS Research DirectorUniversity of Lyon

Title of the invited talk Dynamics of the soil resistome

Dr. Simonet’s research group has had the general objectives of determining the involvement of horizontal gene transfers (HGT) in the adaptation and evolution of bacteria to new environments and was among the first to investigate environmental bacteria with metagenomic approaches. Several of our studies were devoted to investigate the fate of DNA released by genetically engineered organisms including the possibility that antibiotic resistance genes transform indigenous bacteria. This led us to investigate the natural occurrence and the fate of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment and their potential to be transferred to pathogens. Using metagenomic sequences, we show that ARGDs can be detected in all environments analyzed being an abundant reservoir of potentially transferable resistance for pathogens. Soil metagenomes had the most diverse pool of ARGDs and our study described the diverse and abundant antibiotic resistance genes in nonclinical environments and shows that these genes are not randomly distributed among different environments.

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Department of Environmental EngineeringTechnical University of Denmark

Title of the invited talk Tracking and understanding AMR dynamics across European urban water systems

Barth F. Smets is Professor o f Environmental Microbiology at the Technical University of Denmark. His research focuses on Microbial Resource Management and Engineering: the bridge between environmental engineering and microbial ecology. His research group uses both advanced experimental (microscopic, molecular, omic) tools as well as computational (agent and continuum models) approaches to study fundamental and applied microbial ecological questions, with a focus on mixed microbial communities within water engineering applications. Central interests are the ecology of antibiotic resistance genes, the microbial ecology of drinking water production systems, dynamics and control of nitrogen-fueled microbial communities, and new biotechnologies for nutrient recovery, and a general interest in the forces that shape and control microbial communities and their activities. He has ca. 175 ISI publications, with an H-index of 34.

Barth Smets

Nancy Sung

Office Head of Beijing OfficeU.S. National Science Foundation

Title of the invited talkU.S. National Science Foundation's Cooperation with China

Nancy Sung has served as the Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Beijing office beginning in 2014. Dr. Sung joined NSF in 2011 as a Program Director covering China and Southeast Asia, focusing on activities that provide international research experiences for students, as well as working towards new, leveraged international partnerships. In 2013, she served as Acting Section Head for International Science and Engineering at NSF Headquarters. No stranger to China, Dr. Sung is proud to have been a visiting postdoctoral research fellow at the (then) Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine's Institute of Virology in Beijing (1994-1996), with the support of the World Health Organization and the NIH-National Cancer Institute. Her research area was tumor virology, studying the mechanisms of gene regulation and molecular epidemiology of Epstein-Barr virus, which is implicated in the pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a malignancy endemic to southern China. Dr. Sung earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), where she was named a Lineberger Fellow for Excellence in Research. She conducted postdoctoral research in tumor virology at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC-CH.

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Research ScientistAgriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Title of the invited talkAntimicrobial resistance in food production systems

A native of Montréal, Ed obtained his PhD from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Minnesota in 1988. Since then he has toiled as a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). Ed has adjunct appointments in the Department of Biology at the University of Western Ontario in London, and the Department of Soil and Water Sciences at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Ed’s research concerns the interface between agriculture and human and environmental health, and has generated over 250 co-authored publications. In the last decade he has notably lead several national studies concerning the fate and management in agro-ecosystems of pharmaceuticals and pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria carried in organic fertilizers of animal and human (biosolids) origin. Ed has organized a number of international workshops and conference sessions concerning antibiotic resistance, agriculture, and the environment. He is the project coordinator for the Genomics Research and Development Initiative project on antimicrobial resistance, a key component of the innovation pillar of the Canadian Federal Framework for action on antimicrobial resistance. He is a Past-President (2011) of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists, recently received the AAFC ‘Gold Harvest Award’ for career achievement, the Canadian Public Service Award for Excellence for research contributions, and was elected to the Academie d’Agriculture de France.

Ed Topp

Gerry Wright

Director, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR)Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical SciencesMcMaster University

Title of the invited talk The Natural History of Antibiotic Resistance

Dr. Gerry Wright received his BSc in Biochemistry (1986) and his PhD in Chemistry (1990) from the University of Waterloo. He pursued his postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, where he spent two years working on the molecular mechanism of resistance to the antibiotic vancomycin in enterococci. In 1993, Dr. Wright joined the Department of Biochemistry at McMaster University. Currently, he holds the Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Infection and Anti-Infective Research and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Antibiotic Biochemistry. From 2001-2007 Dr. Wright served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University. He is founding director of the McMaster Antimicrobial Research Centre and co-founder of the McMaster High Throughput Screening Facility. Dr. Wright is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the American Academy of Microbiology. He is also the recipient of a number of awards, including Canadian Institutes of Health Research Scientist (2000-2005), Medical Research Council of Canada Scholar (1995-2000), Killam Research Fellowship (2011-1012), Premier’s Research Excellence (1999) and the Polanyi Prize (1993).

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Assistant ProfessorSchool of Environmental Science & EngineeringSouthern University of Science and Technology

Title of the invited talkA pipeline for fast annotation of shared resistome and their hosts

Dr. Xia got her Ph.D from the University of Hong Kong. Her research focus on utilizing new generation sequencing technology coupled with advanced bioinformatic big data mining to investigate the community structure and functionality of various microbiomes. The research areas she currently working on mainly include: biological wastewater / waste sludge treatment; environmental dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and the microbial effect in nature material cycles. Dr. XIA had published more than 20 high quality research papers in prestigious scientific journals in environmental microbiology and ecology field like The ISME Journal, Environmental Microbiology, Biotechnology for Biofuels, Environmental Science & Technology, etc. Additionally, she had served as the Young Ambassador of Hong Kong region for American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and the General Secretary for the Postgraduate Student Association (PGSA) of the University of Hong Kong.

Yu Xia

Min Yang

Vice DirectorResearch Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science

Title of the invited talk Development of antibiotic resistance under the presence of different types of antibiotics: the role of mobile elements

As a researcher in RCEES of CAS, he is now focusing on the following research topics: identification and control of taste / odor and other harmful pollutants in drinking water; microbial ecology in engineered systems; transfer mechanisms and reduction of antibiotic resistance genes in environment; water and wastewater treatment technologies. Except for academic research, he is also active in governmental and industrial consulting activities. His group has published over 200 papers in international journals, applied for over 100 patents, and provided technological support to over 20 wastewater treatment engineering projects. He is the deputy director of RCEES; director of CAS-TWAS Center of Excellence for Water and Environment; director of National Engineering Lab for Industrial Wastewater Treatment Technologies; the chair of Specialist Committee of Microbial Ecology, Ecological Society of China.

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Assistant ProfessorSchool of Marine SciencesSun Yat-sen University

Title of the invited talk Characterization of airborne antibiotic resistance genes in the urban environment using metagenomic approach

Ying Yang is an assistant professor in School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. She got her Ph.D degree from the University of Hong Kong. Her research focus on the occurrence and fate of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in different environmental samples, including wastewater, natural water, sediment, airborne particles, etc. She also participated in the development of the Structured ARG reference database (SARG) and ARGs-OAP, the online analysis pipeline for antibiotic resistance genes detection from metagenomic data.

Ying Yang

Guang-Guo Ying

Director and Distinguished Professor Environmental Chemistry and EcotoxicologyThe Environmental Research InstituteSouth China Normal University

Title of the invited talk Antibiotic emission and antimicrobial resistance in Chinese river basins

Dr. GUANG-GUO YING is the Director and Distinguished Professor of environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology in the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) of South China Normal University. He received his BSc from Zhejiang University, MSc from graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and PhD (Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology) from the University of Adelaide (Australia). He has worked as a research scientist at the University of Melbourne and CSIRO Land and Water (Australia) for many years. He was recruited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences through “100 Talents” program, and received “Distinguished Scholar” Award from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He is also a research professor in State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on environmental contamination assessment and remediation technology, including the fate and effects of contaminants in the environment. He is currently conducting research in emerging science areas such as antibiotics and AMR, endocrine disrupting chemicals and pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment, and environmental issues associated with wastewater and biosolid reuse as well as water quality improvement technology. He is interested in the development of chemical and biological tools for the risk assessment of contaminants in soil and water environments. He has led multiple large grants and supervised over 30 PhD students. He is one of the Most Cited Scientists in Environment and Ecology. He has published more than 190 SCI papers with a citation of > 6000.

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Xu-Xiang Zhang

Professor of Department of Environmental ScienceDeputy Director of the State Key LaboratorySchool of the EnvironmentNanjing University

Title of the invited talkAntibiotic resistome in drinking water treatment and distribution systems

Dr. Xuxiang Zhang received his B.S. from Anhui Normal University in 2001 and Ph.D. degree from Nanjing University in 2006, and then joined the State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse and School of the Environment at Nanjing University as an assistant professor. He currently serves as a professor of environmental science and the deputy director of the state key laboratory. His general research interests are in the areas of environmental microbiology, environmental toxicology and water/wastewater treatment technologies. In particular, his current research focuses on assessment and control of ecological and health risk arising from chemical and biological contamination in water environments. Until now, he has got 108 peer-reviewed papers published in international journals and eight China patents authorized.

Yong-Guan Zhu

Director GeneralInstitute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Title of the invited talk Antibiotic resistome in soil-plant continuum

Dr. Yongguan (Yong-Guan) Zhu, Professor of biogeochemistry and environmental soil science and soil biology, is the Director General of the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has been working on the biogeochemistry of nutrients, metals and emerging pollutants (such as antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes). Professor Zhu is a leader in taking multi-scale and multi-disciplinary approaches to soil and environmental problems. He obtained his BSc from Zhejiang Agricultural University in 1989, and MSc from CAS in 1992, and then a PhD in environmental biology from Imperial College, London in 1998. Dr. Zhu is currently the co-editor-in-chief of Environmental Technology & Innovation (Elsevier), associate editor of Environment International (Elsevier), and editorial members for a few other international journals. He is a scientific committee member for the ICSU program on Human Health and Wellbeing in Changing Urban Environment, and served for nine years as a member of Standing Advisory Group for Nuclear Application, International Atomic Energy Agency (2004-2012). Professor Zhu is the recipient of many international and Chinese merit awards, among them including TWAS Science Award for Agricultural Science 2013, National Natural Science Award 2009; He was elected fellow, the America Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Professor Zhu has published over 300 papers (among them 15 highly cited papers in the last 10 years) in international journals (such as Science, PNAS, Nature Microbiology, Nature Plants), and these publications have attracted over 14,000 citations (Web of Science) with an H-index of 65. He was selected as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (2016 and 2017).

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Professor Environmental Biotechnology LaboratoryDepartment of Civil Engineering The University of Hong Kong

Title of the invited talk Metagenomics as an approach to study ARGs

Prof. Zhang is a Professor in Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory in Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong. He got his Bachelor and Master degrees in Environmental Science and Engineering from Nanjing University (China), and his Ph.D. degree from The University of Hong Kong. Prof. Zhang’s researches include anaerobic digestion and bioenergy from wastes/wastewater (cellulosic biomass, sludge, kitchen waste, and wastewater), biological wastewater treatment (N removal and P recovery), biodegradation of emerging pollutants (antibiotics, PPCP and EDCs), antibiotic and antibiotic resistance genes, etc. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers on the above topics, and got more than 11000 citations (Google Scholar). He has an H index of 58 and is Top 1% researcher (Essential Science Indicators) for 8 years from 2009 to 2016. He is the editorial board members of a few international peer-reviewed journals, and had served as an advisor for BGI (Beijing Genomics Institute) on Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology from 2011 to 2014, and ASM (American Society of Microbiology) Country Liaison to China (Hong Kong) from 2012 to 2014. He was Yi Xing Chair Professor of Nanjing University from 2013 to 2016. He won First-Class Award in Natural Science of China Ministry of Education in 2015 and Second-Class Award State Natural Science Award of China State Council in 2016.

Tong Zhang

16

Registration

Reception dinner for invited speakers

Chair person: Tong Zhang

Reception

Welcome remarks by Shenzhen and SUSTech officials

Martin J. Blaser

New York University, USA

Antimicrobial resistance: the scale of the problem and

approaches to solve it

Chair person: Ed Topp

Gerry Wright

McMaster University, CanadaThe natural history of antibiotic resistance

Min Yang

Chinese Academy of Science, China

Development of antibiotic resistance under the presence of

different types of antibiotics: the role of mobile elements.

Pedro Alvarez

Rice University, USA

Proliferation and control of multidrug-resistant “superbugs” in

WWTPs

Chair person: Barth Smets

Keiji Fukuda

The University of Hong Kong, HKApplying a global, multi-sectoral approach to reversing AMR

Ed Topp

Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaAntimicrobial resistance in food production systems

Guang-Guo Ying

South China Normal University, China

Antibiotic emission and antimicrobial resistance in Chinese river

basins

DAY 1: Thursday, 30 November

DAY 2: Friday, 1 December

DAY 3: Saturday, 2 December

2:00 to 6:00 pm

6:30 to 8:30 pm

8:30 to 9:00 am

9:00 to 9:15 am

9:15 to 10:00 am

10:30 to 11:00 am

11:00 to 11:30 am

11:30 to noon

2:00 to 2:45 pm

2:45 to 3:15 pm

3:15 to 3:45 pm

4:15 to 4:45 pm

4:45 to 5:15 pm

5:15 to 5:45 pm

5:45 to 6:00 pm

6:30 to 8:30 pm

8:30 to 9:15 am

9:15 to 9:45 am

9:45 to 10:15 am

Chair person: Michael Gillings

Amy Pruden

Virginia Tech, USAARGs as pollutions in wastewater and recycled water

Yi Luo

Nankai University, China

Conjugative multi-resistant plasmids mediated ARGs

proliferation in the environment

Chang-Jun Cha

Chung-Ang University, Korea

Polymorphism of antibiotic-inactivating enzyme driven by

ecology expands the environmental resistome

Nancy Sung

U.S. National Science FoundationU.S. National Science Foundation's Cooperation with China

Banquet for all participants

Chair person: Amy Pruden

James Tiedje

Michigan State University, USAAntimicrobial resistance as pollutants in agricultural soil

Yong-Guan Zhu

Chinese Academy of Sciences, ChinaAntibiotic resistome in soil-plant continuum

Helmut Bürgmann

Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science,

Switzerland

Dynamics and transcription of the resistome in Swiss WWTPs

Photo taking and coffee break

Lunch and poster session

Coffee break and poster session

Chair person: Yu Xia

Hong Chen

Zhejiang University, ChinaARG transfer in water treatment systems

Barth Smets

Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

Tracking and understanding AMR dynamics across European

urban water systems

Xu-Xiang Zhang

Nanjing University, China

Antibiotic resistome in drinking water treatment and distribution

systems

Chair person: Bing Li

Michael Gillings

Macquarie University, Australia

The origins and final destinations of antibiotic resistance - Class

1 integrons

Yu Xia

Southern University of Science and Technology,

China

A pipeline for fast annotation of shared resistome and their hosts

Ying Yang

Sun Yat-sen University, China

Characterization of airborne antibiotic resistance genes in the

urban environment using metagenomic approach

Pascal Simonet

University of Lyon, FranceDynamics of the soil resistome

Chair person: Chang-Jun Cha

Xiang-Dong Li

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HKPreliminary evaluation of ARGs in urban air PMs,


Lunch and poster session


China

Jie Feng

Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Horizontal gene transfer drives rapid acquisition of antimicrobial

resistance

Bing Li

Graduate School at Shenzhen Tsinghua University,

China

Human ARGs profiles revealed by a big data analysis

Tong Zhang

Southern University of Science and Technology,

China & The University of Hong Kong, HK

Metagenomics as an approach to study ARGs

Keiji Fukuda, Ed Topp, Amy Pruden, Tong ZhangOutlooks of AMR in Environment and The Control Strategies and

Technologies

Dinner

Technical tours Mangrove Park and Wetland at Shenzhen

Workshop for young

researchers

Venue: Room 107

Teaching Building 1

10:45 to 11:15 am

11:15 to 11:45 am

11:45 am to noon

2:00 to 2:30 pm

2:30 to 2:45 pm

2:45 to 3:00 pm

3:00 to 3:30 pm

4:00 to 4:30 pm

4:30 to 5:00 pm

5:00 to 5:15 pm

5:15 to 5:30 pm

5:30 to 6:00 pm

6:30 to 8:30 pm

DAY 4: Sunday, 3 December

8:30 am to 5:30 pm

(2 options)

Morning session (8:30 am to noon)

Afternoon session (2:00 pm to 5:30 pm)

Chair person: Yanping Mao

1. QIIME and mothur (by Xiaotao Jiang) (60 min)

2. ARGs-OAP & SARG database (by Ying Yang and Xiaole Yin) (60 min)

3. Genome binning and phylogenetic tree (by Yulin Wang) (60 min)

Chair person: Ying Yang

4. Metatranscriptomics (by Ke Yu and Yanping Mao) (60 mins)

5. Whole genome analysis (by Anni Zhang) (60 mins)

6. Pipeline in ARGs analysis (by Yu Xia and Bing Li) (60 mins)

Tianlei QiuTrends in the occurrence of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in poultry

manure, compost and biogas slurry from Beijing, China.

Shaojie RenA reactive membrane system developed by integrating photocatalysis into membrane

filtration for ARB and ARGs removal and degradation

Libing Chu, Run Zhuan, Jianlong WangRemoval of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in antibiotic fermentation

residues by ionizing irradiation

Qianqian Zhang

A critical review of the occurrence, maintenance and proliferation of antibiotic

resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment: influencing factors, mechanisms and

elimination strategies

Zixin PengThe fact and dynamic relationship of metal(loid)s and pathogen pollutants in feces

from Chinese commercial pig farms: a national-scaled study

Peng Shi, Fangyu Chang, Huaicheng Zhang, Aimin LiEffects of polymer-supported disinfectants with quaternary-ammonium structure on

antibiotic-resistant pathogens and genes in drinking water

Wei Wang

Complete genetic analysis of a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolate

accompanying one large plasmid carrying mcr-1, other multi-drug resistance genes

in China

Mianzhi Wang, Yongxue Sun, Peng Liu, Qin Zhou,

Wenguang Xiong, Zhenling ZengExploring the contribution of phages in spreading the ARGs in pig feces

Xiaolong Wang, Yi Luo, and P.J.J AlvarezBacterial exposure to ZnO nanoparticles facilitates horizontal transfer of antibiotic

resistance genes

Lanjun Wang, Jinhua WangContamination of typical antibiotics and ARGs in feces of representative livestock

feedlots

Zhe Tian, Yu Zhang, Min Yang, Hong ZhangDevelopmental dynamics of antibiotic resistome of aerobic biofilm microbiota under

tigecycline stress

Lu TanArctic Antibiotic Resistance Gene Contamination, A Result of Anthropogenic

Activities and Natural Origin

Guanyu Zheng, Yi Lu, Lixiang Zhou

Importance of Sludge Conditioning in Attenuating Antibiotic Resistance: Reduction of

Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria and their Association

with Bacterial Communities

Guo NingThe fate of ARGs during Bioelectrochemical system treating pharmaceutical

wastewaters

Min Jin, Dong Yang, Wei-Li Liu, Zhi-Qiang Shen, Zhi-

Gang Qiu, Jun-Wen Li

Chlorine disinfection increases both intracellular and extracellular antibiotic resistance

genes in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant

Bing Li, Yong Qiu, Jing Zhang, Xia Huang, Hanchang

Shi, Huabing Yin

Real-time monitoring rapid spread of antibiotic resistant plasmid in biofilm by

microfluidics

Qingxiang Yang, Hao Zhang, Qiang WangMultiple antibiotic resistant bacteria in livestock manure and their transfer to manure-

fertilized soil and vegetables

Cen KongThe influences of low-dose UV irradiation and photoreactivation on ARB conjugative

transfer ability

Zong-ming Li, Ju-pei Shen, Jun Zeng, Shuai Du,

Guo-ping Liu, Ji-zheng He

Antibiotics Resistance Gene Distribution and Succession Features along

Chronosequence in Urumqi No.1 Glacier, China

Fang-Fang Wang, Meng-jie Liu, Zong-Ming Li, Xiao-

Lin Yang, Chao-Dong Yang, Ji-Zheng He, Guo-Ping

Liu

Field-based evidence for selenium pressure induced changes of antibiotic

resistance in forest soils

P-21 Na TangIS26 mediated the transmission of KPC from Klebsiella pneumonia to Escherichia coli

ST131

Tianyang Zhang, Yaru Hu, Lei Jiang, Kuangfei Lin,

Changzheng Cui

Removal and horizontal transfer risk control of antibiotic resistance genes by

UV/chlorination process in drinking water

Renxin Zhao, Jie Feng, Xiaole Yin, Jie Liu, Wenjie Fu,

Thomas Berendonk, Tong Zhang, Xiaoyan Li , Bing Li

Antibiotic resistome in landfill leachate from different cities of China deciphered by

metagenomic analysis

Yu Xia, An-Dong Li, Yu Deng, Xiao-Tao Jiang, Li-

Guan Li and Tong Zhang

MinION Nanopore Sequencing Enables Correlation between Resistome Phenotype

and Genotype of Coliform Bacteria in Municipal Sewage

Liping Ma, Bing Li, Xiao-Tao Jiang, Yu-Lin Wang, Yu

Xia, An-Dong Li and Tong Zhang

Catalogue of Antibiotic Resistome and Host-tracking in Drinking Water Deciphered

by a Large Scale Survey

Yu Deng, Tong Zhang Identifying microorganisms for aerobic sulfonamide degradation

Xiao-Tao Jiang, Ke Yu, Li-Guan Li, Xiao-Le Yin, An-

Dong Li, Tong ZhangAQMM: Enabling Absolute Quantification of Metagenome and Metatranscriptome

An Ni Zhang, Li-Guan Li, Liping Ma, Michael R Gillings,

James M Tiedje, Tong Zhang

Conserved Phylogenetic Distribution of Class 1 Integrons Revealed by Assessing the

Bacterial Genome Collection

You Che, Malik Peris, Tong ZhangAntibiotic resistance

DAY 2&3: 1 & 2 December

No. Authors Tit le

P-1

P-2

P-3

P-4

P-5

P-6

P-7

P-8

P-9

P-10

P-11

P-12

P-13

P-14

P-15

P-16

P-17

P-18

P-19

P-20

P-22

P-23

P-24

P-25

P-26

P-27

P-28

P-29

P-30

genes in the hospital wastewater revealed by metagenomic

approaches

Xiaole Yin, Xiao-Tao Jiang, Benli Chai, Liguan Li, Ying

Yang, James R. Cole, James M. Tiedje, Tong Zhang

ARGs-OAP v2.0 with an Expanded SARG Database and Hidden Markov Models for

the Quantification of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Environmental Metagenomes

?

Martin J. Blaser, M.D.

New York University Langone Medical Center, New York NY 10003

Antibiotics came into widespread use in the 1940’s in developed countries, and as other countries began to

modernize, antibiotic usage followed. Current estimates for use indicate >70 billion doses of antibiotics are taken each

year, or more than 10 doses for every man, woman, and child on Earth. The observation, also beginning in the 1940’s, that

adding antibiotics to animal feed could increase farm productivity has led to their massive use in livestock husbandry, as

well as on fish farms and in agriculture. Total worldwide antibiotic production can be estimated as being on the order of

magnitude of ~ 400 (range 200-800) million kg a year. This massive use has led to an increasing problem of bacterial

resistance, as predicted by Darwinian evolution.

In trying to control the resistance problem, first we must better control use. Virtually every study of antibiotic

prescribing in clinical medicine shows enormous variation-- by country, region on a continent, region within a country,

between doctors, and other practitioners. Such variation a priori tells us that much unnecessary use can be eliminated

without overall health standards diminishing. Health practitioners are not sufficiently recognizing the toxicity of antibiotics,

which become more important as uses with marginal utility are being recommended, and widely applied. In aggregate, the

health risks to the individual patient may often exceed the potential benefit. On the farm, with the massive antibiotic use,

we are trading small net improvements in efficiency against large ecological shifts, fueling resistance, among other issues.

Improved stewardship is needed to save our antibiotic patrimony, and to avoid widespread and long-term disease

consequences.

Antibiotic resistance is the visible ‘tip of the iceberg’ in the continuing and increasingly negative consequences of our

massive antibiotic use, and its effects on our micro-ecology.

James Tiedje, Robert Stedtfeld, Fang Wang, Xun Qian, Timothy Johnson, Wei Zhang, Hui Li, William Holben, Bo

Norby and Syed Hashsham

It is now widely recognized that antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria (AMR) and are both environmental, and

indeed soil pollutants. The former are chemical pollutants, and can be evaluated similarly to other chemical pollutants, but

the microbes (AMR) and their genes (ARG), are different in that the can exist as natural background (resistome), multiply,

transfer, be co-selected, go below detection limits (refugia) or disappear, making risk evaluations difficult. Nonetheless,

much information has been learned to identify fates, degrees of risk, and points of control. We have quantified AMR

bacteria and their genes (ARGs) in soils with and without antibiotics, fertilizers, manures as potential effectors or co-

selectants. There is clearly a broad natural resistome in soils which is locally altered by management practices. I will

summarize work in different soil habitats that sheds light on the AMR biome and its dynamics. Most important is the

clustering of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) which suggest that these genes are contiguous and hence

primed for genetic transfer which can be to co-habiting pathogens. If any co-selectant exists in that niche, selection for a

multi-drug resistant pathogen is extant. Antibiotic use in animal health and management is also a point of management

Abstracts of invited talks

Antimicrobial resistance: the scale of the problem and approaches to solve it

Antibiotic resistance as pollutants in agricultural soil

20

The Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State University

control on the dissemination of AMR pollutants. control on the dissemination of AMR pollutants. We have studied how

animal housing, lactation cycle, method of treatment influences the ARG profiles for dairy cattle. I will also summarize work

by our team on soil chemistry effects on antibiotic bioavailability and how it influences the degree of AMR selection.

Antibiotics (e.g. tetracycline) sorbed by soils are bioavailable and exert selective pressure on the bacteria attached to the

same soil surfaces. In moist sandy soils, soil-sorbed tetracycline exerted stronger selective pressure on bacteria because

of faster mass transfer in soil pore water, compared with that sorbed by fine-textured soils. We have shown that biochars

had a strong sorption capacity for antibiotics and could be a soil amendment to lower the transport and bioavailability of

antibiotics. These results suggest that agricultural practices might be optimized to decrease adverse impacts to food safety

and human health, when using contaminated soil and water for food production.

In the past few years, the growing danger and impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become more widely

appreciated outside of scientific and medical sectors. Nonetheless, the full complex mixture of scientific, medical,

agricultural, societal and political challenges remains less well understood. More importantly, there is still not clear idea of

how best to address this complex societal challenge with so many concerns and perspectives, some of which are

conflicting. The speaker will discuss where we stand and options for more effectively moving from discussion to action.

Keiji Fukuda

Director and Clinical Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong

Pedro J.J. Alvarez

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX. 77005, USA

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) pose an imminent threat to global health. Their propagation is a major economic

and public health concern due to the growing inefficacy of available antimicrobial agents to treat infectious disease. For

example, ARB infections in the U.S. are responsible for $20 billion in excess health care costs and 8 million additional

hospital days every year. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play a vital role in minimizing the discharge of many water

pollutants to the environment, including antibiotics and pathogenic microorganisms. However, WWTPs may also serve as

breeding grounds and point sources for environmental dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and ARB. In

this seminar, we will illustrate how biological treatment units in WWTPs promote bacterial growth and genetic exchange,

which in turn may increase ARG proliferation and transfer to indigenous bacteria in receiving waters. We will examine the

behavior, replication, and fate of multidrug-resistant, plasmid-borne blaNDM-1 (coding for New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase)

and other ARGs throughout the various processes, and we will assess mechanisms that enhance their removal.Our data and

other studies show that curtailing the release of antibiotics to sewage (or enhancing their removal via pre-treatment) may

alleviate their selective pressure and mitigate ARG proliferation in WWTPs. We also show that increasing the metabolic

burden of plasmid reproduction (e.g., higher growth rates, and low substrate and O2 availability) promotes ARG removal.

Accordingly, manipulating WWTP operation variables (e.g., food-to-microorganism ratio or contact time in anaerobic

digesters) may facilitate ARB control. Because some “superbugs” are relatively resistant to disinfection by chlorination, we

also explore novel biocontrol approaches using polyvalent (broad-host-range) bacteriophages and nanotechnology-enabled

photocatalysts. Overall, this body of work underscores the need to develop more effective ARB attenuation and control

approaches, and shows promising steps that environmental engineers and scientists can take to mitigate the spread of

antibiotic resistance.

Proliferation and control of multidrug-resistant “Superbugs” in sewage treatment plants

Applying a global, multi-sector approach to reversing AMR

21



1Department of Surface Waters-Research and Management2Department Environmental Chemistry3Department Environmental Microbiology, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland4Environmental Biotechnology Lab, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

*Corresponding author phone: +41587652165; fax: +41587652168;

e-mail: [email protected]

1 1 1 4 2Helmut Bürgmann *, Feng Ju , Karin Beck , Xiaole Yin , Christa McArdell , 2 3 4Heinz Singer , David Johnson , Tong Zhang

Biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been under extensive scrutiny over their role in the

dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) of human origins. Even in Switzerland, which treats most wastewaters

with biological processes but without subsequent disinfection, WWTPs have been established as a source of resistance

contamination for aquatic environments. However, how the treatment process affects ARG expression and selection, as

well as the mechanisms underpinning resistance exchange and dissemination among bacteria within the treatment process

remains poorly understood. Here, we combined quantitative metatranscriptomics and metagenomics to determine the

dynamics and transcription of the resistome in 12 Swiss WWTPs over four treatment stages: primary clarifier, nitrification,

denitrification and secondary clarifier. The WWTP communities are shown to harbor a diverse and actively transcribed

resistome. We detected thousands of unique ARGs that confer resistance to over 20 classes of antibiotics including last-

resort antibiotics. Per cell and per gene transcriptional activity of ARGs was surprisingly high in the effluent, indicating that

the resistome is actively transcribed even in the bacteria discharged from the WWTPs. We demonstrate that resistome

structure and expression change strongly during wastewater treatment, driven mostly by changes in community

composition, while operational parameters and concentrations of antibiotics and metals merely explain a minor proportion

of resistome variability within each stage. In each WWTP, ~7% of ARGs were tracked across all stages representing

mostly abundant and actively expressed genes representing 26(±12)% and 43(±7.1)% of resistome gene and transcript

abundance, indicating that the WWTPs are quite permeable for ARG. We also present evidence from contig assembly and

analysis of genetic markers of mobile genetic elements that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is important for ARG exchange

and dissemination, without uncoupling the resistome from phylogenetic community structure.

The environmental resistome has been recognized as the origin and reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes and

considered to be dynamic and ever expanding. In this study, a targeted gene sequencing approach revealed that the

polymorphic diversity of the aminoglycoside-inactivating enzyme AAC(6)-Ib was ecological niche-specific. AAC(6)-Ib-cr,

previously known as a clinical variant, was prevalent in various soils and the intestines of chickens and humans, suggesting

that this variant might not have arisen from adaptive mutations in the clinic but instead originated from the environment.

Furthermore, ecologically dominant polymorphic variants of AAC(6)-Ib were characterized and found to display different

substrate specificities for quinolones and aminoglycosides, conferring the altered resistance spectra. Interestingly, a novel

variant with the D179Y substitution showed an extended resistance spectrum to the recently-developed fluoroquinolone

gemifloxacin. Our results suggest that soil and animal microbiomes could be major reservoirs of antibiotic resistance;

polymorphic diversity expands the antibiotic resistome in the environment, resulting in the potential emergence of novel

resistance.

Dae-Wi Kim, Cung Nawl Thawng, Jung-Hye Choi, Kihyun Lee and Chang-Jun Cha*

Department of Systems Biotechnology and Center for Antibiotic Resistome, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Republic of

Korea

Polymorphism of antibiotic-inactivating enzyme driven by ecology expands the environmental resistome

Dynamics and transcription of the resistome in Swiss wastewater treatment plants

22

Hong Chen, Ji Zheng, Yannan Jiao, Tao Chen

Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences; Zhejiang University,

Hangzhou 310058, China

The spread of resistant organisms and their antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is exacerbated by exchange of

resistance genes between environmental microbiota. We applied high-throughput qPCR, 16S rRNA gene

sequencing and conjugational transfer experiments to investigate the distributions of ARGs, bacterial communities

and conjugational transfer frequency of ARGs in wastewater treatment plants and drinking water treatment systems.

The relative abundance of ARGs in inflows of mixed (dyeing and domestic) wastewater was higher than that of

domestic wastewater. The relative abundance of mobile genetic elements in the inflow of textile dyeing wastewater

was 3- to 13-fold higher than that in other samples. Six representative types of organic compounds in textile dyeing

wastewater were used to test the effect on plasmid-based conjugative transfer from E. coli HB101 to E. coli NK5449.

These organic compounds all facilitated the transfer of resistance-carrying RP4 plasmid, and the highest transfer

frequency (approximately 10-5-10-3) was over 4- to 200-fold higher than that in the control group (approximately 10-

6-10-5). In the drinking water treatment system, the promotion of ARGs was observed during the advanced

treatment of using biological activated carbon (BAC), and the normalized copy number of ARGs increased

significantly after biological activated carbon treatment, raising the number of detected ARGs from 84 to 159.

Meanwhile, the Acyl-Homoserine Lactones (AHLs), quorum sensing molecules, and bacteria that produced AHLs

were identified to understand the promotion of ARGs. Compared to the control group, six detectable AHLs with an

influence on the conjugative transfer frequency. These detectable AHLs had an influence on plasmid-based

horizontal gene transfer in the intragenus mating systems, indicating that the dynamics of ARGs were strongly

affected by quorum sensing between specific bacteria in the biofilm.

Horizontal gene transfer plays a vital role in dissemination of antibiotic resistance. However, it remains unclear to what

extent the acquisition of resistance via horizontal gene transfer is affected by antibiotic usage in natural populations. In this

study, we focus on the emergence of multiple resistance in a strain of Aeromonas salmonicida responsible for an outbreak

of furunculosis within a Recirculating Aquaculture Systems salmo salar farm in China, and reconstruct the evolution of the

circulating A. salmonicida population in response to antibiotic pressure. The acquisition of MGEs was found to closely

mirror the usage of antibiotics. The MGEs conferring resistance were derived from exogenous sources, and show close

homology to those previously observed in environmental bacteria. Our study provides fresh insight into the dynamics and

1,5 2 2 3 1 1 4Xiaochen Du *, Sion C. Bayliss *, Edward J. Feil , Ying Liu , Chao Wang , Gang Zhang , Dongsheng Zhou , Dawei 1 1.5 1.5 1Wei , Na Tang , Yingjiao Ju , Jie Feng

Insight into antimicrobial resistance evolution mediated by horizontal gene transfer garnered from natural population of Aeromonas salmonicida

Antibiotic resistome promotion in water treatment systems

23



2State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. The 3Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK. College of Marine

4Technology and Environment, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, China. State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, 5Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,

China.

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Jie Feng (E-mail: [email protected]).

Michael Gillings

Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Human effects on the planet are so pervasive that we have entered a new Geological Epoch, called the

Anthropocene. The likely start of this Epoch is the 1950s, coinciding with the beginning of the antibiotic era. In many ways,

the rise of antibiotic resistance is a paradigm for human effects on the biosphere, which include the imposition of strong

selection pressure, and alterations to the abundance of both genes and organisms.

These phenomena can be illustrated by examining the origins and spectacular rise of one genetic element; the clinical

class 1 integron. Integrons acquire and express genes obtained by lateral gene transfer. The class 1 integrons are a

diverse family of these elements, naturally resident on the chromosomes of environmental Betaproteobacteria, where they

have a role in generating genome diversity and adaptability.

Human attempts to control bacterial growth with antimicrobial agents provided an opportunity for these integrons. Use

of disinfectants, exposure to mercury, and use of sulphonamides, the first true antibiotic, generated a selection regime that

helped fix a mosaic DNA element that went on to become the clinical class 1 integron, now found in large numbers of

antibiotic resistant pathogens.

The class 1 integrons found in clinical pathogens all contain highly conserved motifs, and this implies that they have a

single common ancestor. Sometime during the 20th Century, the clinical integron originated as a DNA rearrangement that

occurred in a single cell, at a single point in time and space. This immediate ancestor carried the integron gene acquisition

machinery, genes for resistance to quaternary ammonium compounds and sulphonamides, and a mercury resistance

operon. These genes were embedded within a nested series of transposons, which were, in turn, probably carried on an

IncP plasmid.

Descendants of this element have had a spectacular increase in distribution and abundance, exhibiting many

similarities to invasive species that prosper under human impacts. They are found in over 70 bacterial species of medical

importance. They are common residents in the gut of humans and animals, and have spread to every continent. They have

become linked to diverse transposons, metal, disinfectant and antibiotic resistance genes. These integrons have also

become significant pollutants, but with one critical advantage: they can replicate.

maintenance of MGEs in natural populations under antibiotic pressure and a pertinent exemplar of the role of horizontal

transfer of MGEs from environmental bacteria.

The human gut microbiota is an important reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). A metagenomic approach

and network analysis were used to establish a comprehensive antibiotic resistome catalog and to obtain co-occurrence

patterns between ARGs and microbial taxa in fecal samples from 180 healthy individuals from 11 different countries. In -7 -1total, 507 ARG subtypes were detected with abundances ranging from 7.12 × 10 to 2.72 × 10 copy of ARG/copy of 16S-

rRNA gene. Tetracycline, multidrug, macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin, bacitracin, vancomycin, beta-lactam and

aminoglycoside resistance genes were the top seven most abundant ARG types. Chinese population harbored the most

abundant ARGs. Moreover, the MLS resistance type and its subtype ‘ermF’ were representative ARGs of the Chinese

population. Antibiotic inactivation, antibiotic target alteration and antibiotic efflux were the dominant resistance mechanism

categories in all populations. Microbial phylogeny structured the antibiotic resistome. Co-occurrence patterns implied that

12 species is potential hosts of 58 ARG subtypes.

Bing LI

Graduate School at Shenzhen Tsinghua University

How human activities drove global expansion of the clinical class 1 integron

Human ARGs profiles revealed by a big data analysis

24

1,† 1,† ‡ ‡ †Jiawen Xie, Ling Jin, Xiaosan Luo, Zhen Zhao, and Xiangdong Li*,†Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong

Kong‡International Center for Ecology, Meteorology, and Environment, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of

Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China1Equal contribution to the work; *Corresponding author: X.D. Li, Email: [email protected] Tel: +852 2766 6041; FAX:

+852 2334 6389

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) carried by microbes harbouring in atmospheric fine particulate matters (PM ) are 2.5

of potential risks to human health via inhalation. However, the quantification of airborne ARGs as well as their distribution in

urban environments compared to other land-use types are less investigated, as well as the mechanisms for their

disseminations. In this study, we examined the abundance, seasonal and spatial variabilities of several targeted ARGs

(e.g., ermB, tetW and qnrS) together with 16S rRNA genes and mobile genetic elements (int1) based on PM across 2.5

urban-industrial-rural areas in Nanjing, China over a whole year. Total bacterial loadings indicated by 16S rRNA genes

showed seasonal consistency ranging from 103 to 104 copies/m3 except for an obvious reduction in the winter season at

the rural site. This could result from the substantial decline of vegetation-related bacteria as major sources in rural areas.

For airborne ARGs, tetW and ermB showed higher seasonal distinction in the rural site, suggesting the major sources of

antibiotic resistance were more seasonal-dependent than those in urban and industrial sites. ARGs in air PMs possibly

disseminated by horizontal transfer through mobile genetic elements in the rural site was supported by the strong

correlations of relative abundance of total ARGs with int1, while weaker linkage in the urban and industrial sites implied

joint effects with other mechanisms. In addition, the concentrations of ARGs detected in the air PMs compared to those in

local drinking water indicated the exposure to some ARGs via inhalation was of potential concern.

Urban-industrial-rural contrast of inhalable bacteria and antibiotic resistancegenes (ARGs) in PM over a seasonal cycle2.5

We studied the distribution and conjugation efficiency of the multidrug-resistant conjugative plasmid in Haihe River

based on the receptor labelled with fluorescent protein. In addition, we quantified the 29 ARGs in Haihe River by qPCR.

The result showed that there are 202 conjugants and 26 conjugative plasmids obtained from 11 sediments collected in the

Haihe River (72 km). Plasmids isolated from the urban areas of Haihe River have higher transfer frequency than the rural

areas. The results showed that there was a close relationship between the conjugation plasmid and the abundance of

ARGs in Haihe River by plasmids sequencing. The blaIMI-3 gene was located in the ISE36 harbored by the plasmid

pGA45, which is highly homologous to the sequence of E.coli W365 and plasmid PT103, indicating that the conjugative

transfer of multi-resistant plasmids contributes to the dissemination and propagation of ARGs in Haihe River. The

conjugative transfer of multi-resistant plasmids was significantly increased under stress of chemicals. Nanoparticles

potentially facilitate the horizontal transfer of ARGs was further investigated. 10 mg/L of nZnO significantly increased the

conjugative frequency of antibiotic resistance plasmid RP4 in E. coli pure cultures (24.3 fold) and in aquatic microbiota (8.3

fold), suggesting that a variety of bacterial genera could serve as the recipient of plasmid RP4 in the environment.

Furthermore, 1 mg/L nZnO can increase the transformation efficiency (3 fold) of E. coli, which was confirmed by confocal

fluorescence microscopy. Enhanced horizontal transfer of resistance plasmids was a nanoparticle-specific effect. We

further confirmed that the horizontal gene transfer was attributed to increased bacterial cell permeability after exposure to

nZnO. Overall, our study showed that the conjugative multi-resistant plasmid contributed to the dissemination and

propagation of ARGs in Haihe River and nanoparticles released to the environment will facilitate dissemination and

propagation of ARGs through horizontal gene transfer.

Yi Luo

Nankai University

Dissemination and propagation of ARGs mediated by conjugative multi-resistant plasmids

25



Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing public health challenge in the 21st century. Various national and multi-

national action plans for preserving the use of antibiotics as life-saving drugs on into the future are under development, with

preventing the spread of resistance as a key aspect of these plans. In particular, there is increasing interest and research

on understanding the ecology and evolution of antibiotic resistance and applying this knowledge towards limiting the

spread and propagation via environmental pathways. Wastewater treatment plants are a key example, as they receive

human sewage, including hospital waste, containing pathogens and antibiotics. The influent stream is subsequently mixed

with highly active and concentrated microbial populations responsible for biodegrading and transforming organic carbon

and nutrients in the water before reclaiming the purified water and returning it to local lakes, rivers, streams, and

groundwater. An important question is the extent to which horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is

stimulated amongst the dense bacterial populations inside the WWTP and the overall potential for the effluent to contain

pathogens with new antibiotic resistance phenotypes. In this sense, the ARGs themselves can be considered as the

pollutants, as they transcend their bacterial hosts. The need to understand the fate of ARGs and the factors at play in

horizontal gene transfer becomes particularly acute as communities move towards reuse of the treated wastewater for

potable and non-potable purposes, as this results in greater potential for direct exposure to human populations. Here we

will apply shot-gun metagenomics in tracking how the resistome shifts through wastewater treatment and through

distribution of recycled water at the point of use. We will compare field sampling campaigns, including in the U.S. and

internationally, along with lab-scale validation. Major questions that will be addressed include, which ARGs are of concern

and which should be targeted for future monitoring? Such questions will be key in moving towards a global strategy for

monitoring and containing the spread of antibiotic resistance.

1 1 1Barth F. Smets *, Arnaud Dechesne , Liguan Li ,2 2Jonas Stenløkke Madsen , Joseph Nesme, Søren J. Sørensen

3 3Marcos Quintela Baluja , David W. Graham

Tracking and understanding AMR dynamics across European urban water systems

Environmental Microbial Genomics group Lab.

Ampere，UMR CNRS 5005，Ecole Centrale de Lyon，Universite de Lyon，36 avenue Guy de Collongue，69134

Ecully，France.

Most antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) detected in human pathogens originate from saprophytic environmental

microorganisms, especially soil bacteria, which have the highest diversity of ARGs. However, little is known about where

saprophytic and pathogen bacteria meet to exchange genes and how gene transfer mechanisms are regulated by bacteria

and by the environment. Based on examples drawn from published and unpublished experiments, some soil and plant

related ecosystems will be shown to be “hot spots” for gene transfers (i.e where bacteria and/or their DNA are in close

contact and where they are sufficiently and physiologically active to exchange genes). While conjugation is thought to be

the main mechanism implicated in ARG transfer among pathogens, natural transformation can also occur in situ with

extracellular DNA that has moved far from the donor cell and has persisted months in the soil before transforming bacteria.

Dynamics of the soil resistome

Amy Pruden

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

ARGs as pollutants in waste water and recycled water

26

Pascal Simonet

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), especially conjugal plasmid transfer, is one of the key drivers in global

antibiotic resistance transmission. To predict the fate of antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) the transfer and host

range of ARG carrying plasmids in relevant microbial communities needs to be understood. Urban water systems

(UWS) are a potential conduit of ARG transfer between human intestinal and environmental bacteria, and UWS

are being examined as potential hot spot of antibiotic resistance dissemination. In this study, a comprehensive

assessment of antibiotic resistance transmission is being performed in UWS across three European countries

(Denmark, United Kingdom, Spain) with different antibiotic and biocide use and urban sewage management

approaches. We are especially keen to examine to what extent community permisseveness varies along different

nodes in the sewage catchment area and between countries. Hence, utilizing a well-established bioreporter

system, plasmid permissiveness, in distinct microbial communities within an UWS and across different UWSs,

is being evaluated. Plasmid transfer frequency is assessed using microscopic image analysis, and host range

is identified by combining flow-cytometric sorting and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Using incubations that

mimic the environmental conditions at sewage catchment nodes, we challenge different UWS communities with

model plasmids that span multiple important incompatibility groups (RP4, IncP-1 ; pKJK-5, IncP-1e; pB10, αIncP1-b; R27, IncHI1; pIP501, Inc18; RSF1010, IncQ), to examine host range variation among the microbial

communities and the plasmid groups. Moreover, we will assess transfer using newly isolated antibiotic

resistant plasmids and hosts to ensure maximal relevance to ARG transmission potential in real UWS

ecosystems. Preliminary results across the sewer-to-wastewater effluent continuum reveal sharp quantitative

changes in the permissive fractions, with highest permisseveness observed in residential sewer microbial

communities. Taxonomic compositions of the main transconjugal pools have been determined; they are

dominated by consistent genera across sample locations.

1Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark2Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Newcastle University, UK. *[email protected]

Large amounts of antibiotics are used in commercial food animal production systems. Medicated animals or poultry

excrete antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These chemical and biological contaminants are entrained into the

environment with the application of manure to crop production systems. This presentation will discuss the relationship between

antibiotic use and resistance development, the composition of manure and how it varies with pre-application treatment, and the

fate of these contaminants in soil following application. The presentation will emphasize key knowledge gaps.

Nancy Sung

U.S. National Science Foundation

U.S. National Science Foundation's cooperation with China

The U.S. National Science Foundation supports basic science in all fields of science and engineering. This presentation will

address how NSF collaborates internationally, how NSF collaborates with China, as well as a new priority area in the

Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases.

Ed Topp

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Antimicrobial resistance in food production systems

27



Gerry Wright

The natural history of antibiotic resistance

The evidence is indisputable that resistance that tracks directly with antibiotic use. This phenomenon is a result of a failure to understand that antibiotics and resistance are the products of, and subject to, natural selection. Understanding the origins of antibiotics and their chemistries, the co-evolution of resistance and the chemical ecology antimicrobial substances is critical to grappling with the current antibiotic crisis and informing on new therapeutic options for the

st21 Century. Essential to this understanding is an accurate survey of molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance throughout microbial communities. Some of our efforts to explore this chemical and genetic diversity will be described, with particular attention to the rifamycin and macrolide classes of antibiotics.

Besides resistome quantification (abundance and composition of ARGs), identifying the carrier population is another

crucial aspect in evaluating the health risk associated with Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) found in environments. An

automatic pipeline was developed to facilitate the host tracking of ARGs in metagenomic datasets. By coupling de novo

assembly with metagenomic binning strategy, host populations were identified for ARGs in 140 metagenomes from all

major environments receiving scientific concern for ARG dissemination (including soil, municipal wastewater system,

drinking water system, animal/human feces and ocean). Among the 3.6 million searchable genomic fragments retrieved,

8.1 (2,942 ARG-containing contigs) carried at least one ARG. As expected, most ARGs were highly conservative by the

factors of both taxonomy and habitat as Fisher exact test showed significant enrichment of most ARG subtypes in a

particular host in different environments. Next, shared resistome were investigated based on shared ARG genotypes and

mobile resistance operons (MROs). Instances of ARG horizontal gene transfer (HGT) could be identified if the shared

genotypes/MROs were carried by phylogenetically unrelated populations. 6,368 resistome sharing instances were identified

in 30.3% of all ARG-carrying contigs, suggesting despite the overall conservativeness, ARGs were being transferred

across phylogenetic and ecological boundaries at frequency higher than expected. Among them, we observed 376

instances of resistome sharing between environmental microbes and human pathogens. Lager than 90% of such env-

pathogen sharing instances were empowered by HGT (between two different orders with recombination machinery) but not

pathogen dissemination in different studied environments. Feces (animal and human feces) and activates sludge samples

contributed 70% of such env-pathogen sharing. While, Aminoglycoside (27.8%) and Sulfonamide (16.6%) were ARG types

most frequently shared.

1,2 1 1,2Yu Xia , Anni Zhang , Xiao-Tao Jiang, Tong Zhang

Min Yang*, Yu Zhang, Zhe Tian, Yanhong Shi, Jiaoqi Huyan, Hong Zhang

Development of antibiotic resistance under the presence of different types of antibiotics: the role of mobile elements

A pipeline for fast annotation of shared resistome and their hosts

28

Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research

McMaster University, Hamilton, ON Canada

1School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology2Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, The University of Hong Kong

State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese

Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Road, Haidian

District, Beijing 100085, PR China

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Antibiotics are generally thought as an important selector for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), however, the impact

of different types of antibiotics on the development of antibiotic resistance in complex microbial community remains

unclear. Herein, the impact of three antibiotics (streptomycin, spiramycin, and oxytetracycline) with increasing -1concentrations (0, 0.1, 1, 5, 25, 50 mg·L ) on promoting resistance development in aerobic biofilm microbiota was

investigated by using both culture-independent and culture-based approaches.

Significant increases (p < 0.05) in relative abundances of the corresponding ARGs were detected at streptomycin and -1 -1oxytetracycline concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1 mg·L and 0 to 0.1 mg·L , respectively, revealed by metagenomic

sequencing. The enrichment of ARGs was further validated by SYBR-Green real-time PCR. On the other hand, a

significant increase in the relative abundance of ARGs was not observed in the spiramycin system under the concentration -1range (0-50 mg·L ) used in this study.

The mechanisms behind the enrichment of ARGs in streptomycin and oxytetracycline systems were further

investigated. Streptomycin mainly increased the abundances of aminoglycoside ARGs in the resistome, which showed a

significant positive correlation with that of class 1 integron (intI1) (p < 0.01). Furthermore, three of the most abundant

aminoglycoside ARGs (aadA, aacA, and aadB) were found to be gathered in the gene cassettes region of intI1 with the

increase of streptomycin concentrations, indicating intI1 played an important role in their enrichment.Besides enriching

tetracycline ARGs, oxytetracycline also induced a significant enrichment of other resistant determinants conferring

resistance not to oxytetracycline. High-throughput sequencing showed the abundance of plasmid-like sequence increased

in the metagenome of aerobic microbiota, and various ARGs, including tetracycline ARGs, were tend to congregate on

plasmids after oxytetracycline exposure. Comparative genomics analysis of Aeromonas species isolated from the aerobic

microbiota under different oxytetracycline pressure further confirmed that Aeromonas became resistant to oxytetracycline

by acquiring tetE and tet31 genes located on two large plasmids pAeca1a and pAeca3, which also contained other kinds of

ARGs.

Together, the results demonstrated that different types of antibiotics lead to different patterns of ARGs development,

and mobile genetic elements such as integron and plasmids play an important role in the development of antibiotic

resistance under antibiotic pressure.

Wide spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has attracted increasing concern in recent years. However,

the occurrence and diversity of ARGs in airborne particles remained to be understood. In this study, total suspended

particles (TSPs) in the atmosphere were collected from animal feedlots, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and

downtown area in Zhuhai, China, and were analyzed for ARG profiles using metagenomic approaches. ARGs were

abundant and diverse in TSP samples from animal feedlots and the WWTP. ARGs encoding the resistance to

aminoglycoside, macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin (MLS) and tetracycline were dominant over others in the TSP

of feedlots whereas multidrug and bacitracin resistance genes were more abundant than other ARGs in the TSP

samples from WWTP. ARG profiles in the TSPs of feedlots were consistent with those in animal feces. Abundance

and diversity of ARGs in downtown area was relatively lower compared with other TSPs samples with multidrug

resistance genes as the most abundant ARG type. Significant correlations were observed between 4 genera

(Serratia, Escherichia, Streptococcus and Pseudomonas) and ARGs distribution (p < 0.01). This study suggested

that comprehensive profiles of ARGs could be helpful to displays a novel perspective on ARGs profiles in TSPs via

Ying Yang

Characterization of airborne antibiotic resistance genes in the urban environment using metagenomic approach

29



School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, P. R. China

Tel: 86-20–39332201; Email: [email protected]

metagenomic approach. Comprehensive analysis of the ARGs in airborne TSP could improve our understanding of ARGs

dissemination pathways in the environment and their potential health threats.

Antibiotics are widely used in humans and animals, but there is a big concern about their negative impacts on

ecosystem and human health after use. So far there is a lack of information on emission inventory and environmental fate

of antibiotics in China. We studied national consumption, emissions and multimedia fate of 36 frequently detected

antibiotics in China by market survey, data analysis and level III fugacity modelling tools. Based on our survey, the total

usage for the 36 chemical was 92700 tons in 2013, an estimated 54000 tons of the antibiotics was excreted by human and

animals, and eventually 53800 tons of them entered into the receiving environment following various wastewater

treatments. The fugacity model successfully predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) in all 58 river basins of China,

which are comparable to the reported measured environmental concentrations (MECs) available in some basins. The

bacterial resistance rates in the hospitals and aquatic environments were found to be related to the PECs and antibiotic

usages, especially for those antibiotics used in the most recent period. This is the first comprehensive study which

demonstrates an alarming usage and emission of various antibiotics in China.

The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in drinking water has become a challenging crisis worldwide.

However, the hosts, co-occurrence and pathogenicity of ARGs in drinking water treatment systems remain unclear.

Here, high-throughput sequencing-based metagenomics approaches were applied to determine the changing

patterns of the antibiotic resistome and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in full-scale drinking water treatment and

distribution systems. A total of 28 ARGs within seven types occurred in the drinking water, and chlorination

induced a significant increase in total abundance of the ARGs. The ARGs of resistance-nodulation-cell division and

ATP-binding cassette antibiotic efflux dominated in the drinking water treatment and distribution systems after

chlorination, which were mainly responsible for to the antibiotic resistance promotion. Additionally, the ARGs were

mainly carried by chlorine-resistant Polaromonas, Sphingomonas, Pseudomonas, Acidovorax, Fluviicola,

Bdellovibrio and Hyphomicrobium after chlorination, and the increase in the relative abundance of the chlorine-

resistant bacteria and MGEs greatly drove the resistome alteration. Moreover, some bacterial hosts of the

1The Environmental Research Institute, MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Theoretical Chemistry, South China

Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China2State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Guangzhou 510640, China

*Corresponding author. Mobile: 13427503621

Email address: [email protected]; [email protected]

Antibiotics emissions in the river basins of whole China, and their linkage to bacterial resistance

Antibiotic resistome in drinking water treatment and distribution systems

State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing

210023, P. R. China

Tel: 86-25–68960368; Fax: 86-25–68960368; Email: [email protected]

30

1,2 1,2Guang-Guo Ying *, Qian-Qian Zhang

Xuxiang Zhang

ARGs, such as Pseudomonas alcaligenes, were identified as potential pathogens in chlorinated water, which

may pose potential health risks. This study characterized antibiotic resistome alteration and revealed its

underlying microbiological mechanisms in response of drinking water chlorination.

Soil is both the source and sink of antibiotic resistance, as many soil microorganisms produce antibiotics,

which is the initial selection for soil microbiome to develop antibiotic resistance. However, with the intensive

human and animal use of antibiotics, soil is increasingly becoming the major sink of waste streams (e.g. waste

water, animal manure), which contain various toxic chemicals including heavy metals and antibiotics, as well as

resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance in soils can then be disseminated through surface runoff, plant and air

transport etc. This talk will mainly focus on arable soils and crops, and will take soil-plant continuum as the entire

system to examine the dynamics of antibiotic resistome. It will also examine the impacts of soil amendments on

the abundance and diversity of resistome in soil-plant continuum. In order to address the issue of human

exposure to antibiotic resistome, phyllosphere is considered as a unique niche to address how soil management

will influence the dynamics of resistome in epiphytic and endophytic microbial communities.

Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Email: [email protected]

Antibiotic resistome in soil-plant continuum

The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is a growing global problem now. ARGs could be

developed in multiple sources, included some hotpots, like WWTPs and livestock waste, and discharged into

natural environment. Different methodologies have been used to study environmental dimension of antibiotic

resistance, including isolation, PCR-cloning, qPCR, high-throughput technologies (HT-qPCR and microarray),

metagenomic sequencing, etc. DNA sequencing at 40 years is providing a more comprehensive and comparable

profile of antibiotic resistance genes in different environmental sectors, given the standardized DNA extraction

procedure, uniform sequencing platform, and consistent and transparent bioinformatics analysis pipeline. More

importantly, the assembled contigs and genomes offer insights into host and genetic context of ARGs which help

risk assessment. We developed a online pipeline for annotation and statistical analyses of ARGs in

metagenomes of environmental samples. Additionally, a novel microbial sources tracking method was developed

to assess the pollution contribution from different sources based on ARGs profiles.

1,2Tong Zhang

Metagenomics as an approach to study ARGs

31



Yong-Guan Zhu

1Environmental Biotechnology Lab, The University of Hong Kong 2International Center for Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (iCARE), School of Environmental Science and

Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology

南方科技大学简介Southern University of Science and Technology

南方科技大学是由中国广东省领导和管理、深圳市举全市之力创建的一所公办创新型大学，目标是迅速建成国际化高水

平研究型大学，建成中国重大科学技术研究与拔尖创新人才培养的重要基地。郭雨蓉为现任党委书记，陈十一为现任校长。

南方科技大学初步建成了一支国际化高水平的教师队伍。截至2017年9月，南方科技大学已签约引进教师约300人，其

中90%以上拥有海外工作经验，60%以上具有在世界排名前100名大学工作或学习的经历。其中包括院士18人，国家“千人

计划”入选者48人，教育部“长江学者”15人，“国家自然科学基金杰出青年基金”获得者15人，“青年千人计划”入选者

61人。

南方科技大学将发扬“敢闯敢试、求真务实、改革创新、追求卓越”的创校精神，突出“创知、创新、创业”

（Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship）的办学特色，大力培养创新人才，早日实现建成国际化高水平研究型大

学、建成中国重大科学技术研究与拔尖创新人才培养重要基地的办学目标。

Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) is a public university founded in the Shenzhen Special

Economic Zone of China. It is intended to be a top-tier international university that excels in interdisciplinary research,

nurturing innovative talents and delivering new knowledge to the world. Currently, Ms. GUO Yurong serves as Chairwoman

of the University Council. Prof. CHEN Shiyi, an internationally renowned scholar in the field of fluid mechanics, is President

of the University.

SUSTech has 17 existing academic programs, ranging from financial mathematics to environmental and water

resources engineering. New programs are being offered continuously to meet growing demands. All together, SUSTech

offers an unparalleled learning and research experience at the scientific and technological frontiers.

At the current stage, there are around 300 faculty members, 3,596 undergraduate students and 778 graduate students.

Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship are the three pillars for SUSTech to stand out with distinctive Characteristics.

As one of China's pioneering new research universities, SUSTech believes that learning and research go hand in hand. The

university offers unprecedented opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to work alongside the faculty to

explore and tackle both fundamental and practical problems.

32

环境科学与工程 School of Environmental Science & Engineering

为顺应国家环境保护重大战略需求，2 0 1 5年5月南方科技大学成立了环境科学与工程学院（以下简称“学

院”）。国家“千人计划”专家、国际地下水环境领域知名专家郑春苗教授担任建院院长。学院旨在水资源与水环

境、土壤污染与修复、大气污染及其防治、工业生态、全球环境变化等领域开展前沿学术研究和高端人才培养。同

时，学院致力于研发水处理、海水淡化、节能减排和环境遥感等与社会需求密切相关的先进技术。

Spurred by China’s strategic needs for better environmental protection, Southern University of Science and Technology

established the School of Environmental Science and Engineering (“School of Environment”) in May 2015. Professor

Chunmiao Zheng, an internationally renowned expert in the field of groundwater research, and a recipient of the Chinese

government’s “Thousand Talents Program”, is the founding Dean of the School. The School’s faculty conduct cutting-edge

research on water resources and water quality, soil science and remediation, air pollution control, industrial ecology, global

environmental change and related areas. The School also aims to develop advanced technologies to meet urgent societal

needs, such as novel wastewater treatment and desalination technologies, energy-saving and emission reduction

technologies, and environmental remote sensing technologies.

师资Faculty

学院自2015年成立以来，已初步建成一支优秀的师资团队。目前，学院拥有全职教师26人(含院士1人）和访问

教授6人（含双聘院士1人）。全职教师中教授10人、副教授6人、助理教授9人，其中英国皇家工程院院士1人、“千

人计划”国家特聘专家5人、国家杰出青年科学基金获得者2人、享受国务院特殊津贴专家1人、国家“万人计划”青年

拔尖人才1人、国家优秀青年科学基金获得者2人、国家“青年千人计划”学者3人。现有教员均具有海外留学或工作

经历。

The School is recruiting an outstanding faculty globally. Currently, the School has 26 full-time faculty members and six

visiting faculty members. Among the full-time faculty members, 10 are professors, 6 associate professors, and 9 assistant

professors. The faculty have received numerous honors and distinctions. Among them, one is fellow of the Royal Academy

of Engineering (UK), five are "Thousand Talents Program" scholars, two recipients of the Outstanding Young Investigator

Award from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), one recipient of the State Council Special

Allowance, one recipient of the National High-level Personnel of Special Support Program, two recipients of the Outstanding

Young Investigator (junior level) Award from NSFC, and three recipients of the "Young Thousand Talents Program". All

faculty members have prior experiences studying and/or working abroad.

33



a4单页 - sustech...tel: 852-28578551, e-mail: [email protected] school of public health, the...

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