| Title | Antibiotic disturbance affects aquatic microbial community composition and food web interactions but not community resilience |
| Abstract | Notwithstanding the fundamental role that environmental microbes play for ecosystem functioning, data on how microbes react to disturbances are still scarce, and most factors that confer stability to microbial communities are unknown. In this context, antibiotic discharge into the environment is considered a worldwide threat for ecosystems with potential risks to human health. We therefore tested resilience of microbial communities challenged by the presence of an antibiotic. In a continuous culture experiment, we compared the abundance, composition and diversity of microbial communities undisturbed or disturbed by the constant addiction of tetracycline in low (10 µg/L) or intermediate (100 µg/L) concentration (press disturbance). Further, the bacterial communities in the three treatments had to face the sudden pulse disturbance of adding an allochthonous bacterium (Escherichia coli). Tetracycline, even at low concentrations, affected microbial communities by changing their phylogenetic composition and causing cell aggregation. This, however, did not coincide with a reduced microbial diversity, but was mainly caused by a shift in dominance of specific bacterial families. Moreover, the less disturbed community (10 µg/L tetracycline) was sometimes more similar to the control and sometimes more similar to heavily disturbed community (100 µg/L tetracycline). All in all, we could not see a pattern where the communities disturbed with antibiotics were less resilient to a second disturbance introducing E. coli, but they seemed to be able to buffer the input of the allochthonous strain in a similar manner as the control. |
| Source | Molecular ecology (Print) 28, pp. 1170–1182 |
| Keywords | antibiotic resistance |
| Journal | Molecular ecology (Print) |
| Editor | Blackwell Scientific Publications,, Oxford, Regno Unito |
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1111/mec.15033 |
| Authors | Ester M. Eckert1, Grazia M. Quero, Andrea Di Cesare Giuliana Manfredini, Francesca Mapelli, Sara Borin, Diego Fontaneto, Gian Marco Luna, Gianluca Corno |
| Text | 401489 2019 10.1111/mec.15033 ISI Web of Science WOS WOS 000463040300020 Scopus 2 s2.0 85063661206 antibiotic resistance Antibiotic disturbance affects aquatic microbial community composition and food web interactions but not community resilience Ester M. Eckert1, Grazia M. Quero, Andrea Di Cesare Giuliana Manfredini, Francesca Mapelli, Sara Borin, Diego Fontaneto, Gian Marco Luna, Gianluca Corno 1Microbial Ecology Group, National Research Council Water Research Institute CNR IRSA , Verbania, Italy 2Department of Integrative Marine Ecology EMI , Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn SZN , Napoli, Italy 3Department of Environmental and Life Sciences DISTAV , University of Genoa, Genova, Italy 4Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan, Milano, Italy 5National Research Council, Istituto per le Risorse Biologiche e le Biotecnologie Marine CNR IRBIM , Ancona, Italy Notwithstanding the fundamental role that environmental microbes play for ecosystem functioning, data on how microbes react to disturbances are still scarce, and most factors that confer stability to microbial communities are unknown. In this context, antibiotic discharge into the environment is considered a worldwide threat for ecosystems with potential risks to human health. We therefore tested resilience of microbial communities challenged by the presence of an antibiotic. In a continuous culture experiment, we compared the abundance, composition and diversity of microbial communities undisturbed or disturbed by the constant addiction of tetracycline in low 10 µg/L or intermediate 100 µg/L concentration press disturbance . Further, the bacterial communities in the three treatments had to face the sudden pulse disturbance of adding an allochthonous bacterium Escherichia coli . Tetracycline, even at low concentrations, affected microbial communities by changing their phylogenetic composition and causing cell aggregation. This, however, did not coincide with a reduced microbial diversity, but was mainly caused by a shift in dominance of specific bacterial families. Moreover, the less disturbed community 10 µg/L tetracycline was sometimes more similar to the control and sometimes more similar to heavily disturbed community 100 µg/L tetracycline . All in all, we could not see a pattern where the communities disturbed with antibiotics were less resilient to a second disturbance introducing E. coli, but they seemed to be able to buffer the input of the allochthonous strain in a similar manner as the control. 28 Published version https //onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.15033 EEME 2019_MolEcol_Eckert et al.pdf Articolo in rivista Blackwell Scientific Publications, 0962 1083 Molecular ecology Print Molecular ecology Print Mol. ecol. Print Molecular ecology. Print gianluca.corno CORNO GIANLUCA gianmarco.luna LUNA GIAN MARCO diego.fontaneto FONTANETO DIEGO andrea.dicesare DI CESARE ANDREA estermaria.eckert ECKERT ESTER MARIA |
