[Investigation of Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) in Landfill]

Antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs), an emerging contaminant, have been detected worldwide in various environments such as sediments and river. However, little is known about ARGs distribution in landfill. In this study, we investigated five ARGs [sulfonamides resistant genes (sulI and sulII), chloramphenicols resistant gene (cat), β-lactams resistant gene (bla-SHV), and tetracyclines resistant gene (tetW)] in refuse samples collected from jiangeungou landfill (Xi'an, China) by real-time PCR. We then correlated the ARGs and physiochemical properties of refuse to examine the link between them. Results showed that all tested ARGs have been detected in all samples, suggesting that landfill served as ARGs reservoir. The highest copies numbers of sulII, sulI, tetW, bla-SHV, and cat were (3.70 ± 0.06) x 10(8) copies · g(-1) ( dry refuse), (9.33 · 0.06) x 10(6) copies · g(-1) (dry refuse), (2.27 0.08) x 10(5) copies · g(-1) (dry refuse), (3.68 ± 0.09) x 10(4) copies · g(-1) (dry refuse), and (1.39 ± 0.10) x 10(4) copies · g(-1) (dry refuse), respectively. Further, sulI, sulII, and cat positively correlated to moisture and sulI and cat negatively correlated to pH.