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Roles of micro/nanoplastics in the spread of antimicrobial resistance through conjugative gene transfer

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Abstract

The role of micro/nanoplastics (M/NPs) in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains insufficiently understood. Here, we examine how polystyrene (PS) M/NPs of varying sizes and concentrations affect AMR gene (ARG) transfer in model systems with gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and gram-positive (Enterococcus faecalis) donors. In these systems, the ARG transfer frequency is higher for intrageneric pairs than for intergeneric pairs. The 20- and 120-nm-sized PS broadly facilitate conjugation, whereas the 1-μm-sized PS selectively promotes ARG transfer to E. coli recipients, in addition to altering the expression of conjugation- and pili-associated genes. Notably, an environmentally relevant (0.1 mg/L) concentration of PS M/NPs facilitates AMR transfer in the tested systems, which correlates with increased reactive oxygen species levels, ATP levels, and cell membrane permeability in both donors and recipients. Collectively, our findings underscore the role of M/NPs in facilitating AMR spread in specific bacterial systems, providing valuable insights for understanding their potential ecological risk in water environments.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article, its Supplementary Information and the accompanying Source Data file. All RNA sequencing data have been deposited in the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus under accession codes GSE248909 and GSE297944. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 52321005 awarded to A.W., 52293441 awarded to S.-H.G., 52293443 awarded to A.W., and 52070060 awarded to S.-H.G.), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2024A1515010085 awarded to S.-H.G.), the Shenzhen Overseas High-level Talents Research Startup Program (No. 20200518750C awarded to S.-H.G.), the Shenzhen Overseas High-Level Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Special Fund (No. KQTD20190929172630447 awarded to S.-H.G.) and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Nos. GXWD20231127195344001 awarded to A.W. and S.-H.G. and JCYJ20241202123735045 awarded to S.-H.G.), and the State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resource and Environment (Harbin Institute of Technology) (No.2025TS39 awarded to S.-H.G.). We would like to thank Prof. Zhigang Qiu from the Tianjin Institute of Environmental and Operational Medicine for donating the bacterial strains E. faecalis OG1RF and E. faecalis OG1RS, and Dr. Casey Huang and Dr. Lyman Tze Kin Ngiam from the Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology for proofreading the paper. Figure 5 was designed, composed, and edited using BioRender (Kang, Y. (2025) https://BioRender.com/ofu614f), ChemDraw, and Adobe Illustrator.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Yuanyuan Kang, Shu-Hong Gao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban-Rural Water Resource and Environment, School of Eco-Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Yuanyuan Kang, Shu-Hong Gao, Yusheng Pan, Tianyao Li, Yiyi Su, Wanying Zhang, Bin Liang & Aijie Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Urban-Rural Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

    Rui Gao

  3. Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Lu Fan

  4. Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Zhigang Yu & Jianhua Guo

  5. State Key Laboratory for Ecological Security of Regions and Cities, Institute of Urban Environment,, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China

    Jian-Qiang Su

  6. State Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Green Resource Recycling, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Yi Luo

  7. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China

    Yue Wang

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  1. Yuanyuan Kang
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Contributions

Y.K. and S.-H.G. designed the overall experiments for this study. Y.K. performed all analyses, conducted the RP4-relevant conjugation experiments within and across genera, measured ROS levels, and detected changes in cell membrane permeability and ATP generation in RP4-relevant strains. S.-H.G. supervised and managed the project and contributed to the writing and revision of the manuscript. Y.K. and S.-H.G. wrote the full manuscript and illustrated all the figures provided. Y.P., T.L. and R.G. performed the pCF10-relevant conjugation experiments and corresponding measurements of ROS production, changes in cell membrane permeability and ATP generation; Y.S. and W.Z. performed the experiments, analysed the data, and revised the manuscript. J.G. and Z.Y. contributed to the initial planning for this study, provided guidance on the research significance of this study, and contributed to revising the manuscript. L.F. and B.L. assisted in analysing the mechanisms, ecological significance, and potential application scenarios of this study. J.S. and Y.L. provided the donor and recipient strains and provided feedback on the conjugation experiments. Y.W. analysed the transcriptomic data and determined the changes in the expression of related genes under different concentrations and particle size PS treatments. A.W. provided guidance on the concentration and particle size of PS in the study and contributed to revising the manuscript. All the authors provided feedback and discussed the manuscript.

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Shu-Hong Gao, Yue Wang or Aijie Wang.

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Kang, Y., Gao, SH., Pan, Y. et al. Roles of micro/nanoplastics in the spread of antimicrobial resistance through conjugative gene transfer.
Nat Commun (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67879-y

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