Efficacy and Mechanism of Antibiotic Resistance Gene Degradation and Cell Membrane Damage During Ultraviolet Advanced Oxidation Processes

Overview

Journal ACS ES T Water

Publisher American Chemical Society

Date 2024 Jun 21

PMID 38903200

Authors

Junyue Wang

Linxuan Huo

Kaiqin Bian

Huan He

Michael C Dodd

Ameet J Pinto

Ching-Hua Huang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Combinations of UV with oxidants can initiate advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and enhance bacterial inactivation. However, the effectiveness and mechanisms of UV-AOPs in damaging nucleic acids (e.g., antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)) and cell integrity represent a knowledge gap. This study comprehensively compared ARG degradation and cell membrane damage under three different UV-AOPs. The extracellular ARG (eARG) removal efficiency followed the order of UV/chlorine > UV/HO > UV/peracetic acid (PAA). Hydroxyl radical (OH) and reactive chlorine species (RCS) largely contributed to eARG removal, while organic radicals made a minor contribution. For intracellular ARGs (iARGs), UV/HO did not remove better than UV alone due to the scavenging of OH by cell components, whereas UV/PAA provided a modest synergism, likely due to diffusion of PAA into cells and intracellular OH generation. Comparatively, UV/chlorine achieved significant synergistic iARG removal, suggesting the critical role of the RCS in resisting cellular scavenging and inactivating ARGs. Additionally, flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that membrane damage was mainly attributed to chlorine oxidation, while the impacts of radicals, HO, and PAA were negligible. These results provide mechanistic insights into bacterial inactivation and fate of ARGs during UV-AOPs, and shed light on the suitability of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and flow cytometry in assessing disinfection performance.

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