Effects of soil protists on the antibiotic resistome under long term fertilization

Soil protists are key in regulating soil microbial communities. However, our understanding on the role of soil protists in shaping antibiotic resistome is limited. Here, we considered the diversity and composition of bacteria, fungi and protists in arable soils collected from a long-term field experiment with multiple fertilization treatments. We explored the effects of soil protists on antibiotic resistome using high-throughput qPCR. Our results showed that long term fertilization had stronger effect on the composition of protists than those of bacteria and fungi. The detected number and relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were elevated in soils amended with organic fertilizer. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed that changes in protists may contribute to the changes in ARGs composition, and the application of different fertilizers altered the communities of protistan consumers, suggesting that effects of protistan communities on ARGs might be altered by the top-down impact on bacterial composition. This study demonstrates soil protists as promising agents in monitoring and regulating ecological risk of antibiotic resistome associated with organic fertilizers.