Control of the pollution of antibiotic resistance genes in soils by quorum sensing inhibition

To investigate whether pollution from antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) could be affected by bacterial quorum sensing, the oxytetracycline (OTC)-containing manure was fertilized to establish the ARG-polluted soil environment. Under long-term OTC stress, substantial ARGs in the range from 10−4 to 10−3 RG/16S rRNA (resistance genes/16S rRNA) were detected in the antibiotics control (AC) group, in which OTC-containing manure was fertilized. Meanwhile, 10−6 RG/16S rRNA was detected in biological control (BC) group, in which non-OTC-containing manure was fertilized. Subsequently, two typical quorum sensing inhibitors, 4-nitropyridine N-oxide (4-NPO) and 3,4-dibromo-2H-furan-5-one (DBF), were used to treat the ARG-polluted soils. These two groups called 4-NPO treatments (NT) and DBF treatments (FT), respectively. There were no significant differences in bacterial growth and OTC degradation in NT and FT groups, compared to AC group. However, acyl-homoserine lactones such as C4-HSL, C6-HSL, and C8-HSL decreased significantly in both NT and FT groups, compared to AC group. Meanwhile, the abundance of most ARGs decreased dramatically. In FT group, the concentrations of tet(L) and tet(Q) were below the detection limits. It was demonstrated that quorum sensing inhibition could be an effective way to prevent and control the pollution of ARGs in soil.