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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Qualitative and Quantitative Assays for Detection and Characterization of Protein Antimicrobials
Published on: April 10, 2016
Occurrence and Distribution of Antibacterial Quaternary Ammonium Compounds in Chinese Estuaries Revealed by Machine
Wenyuan Su1,2, Pengyang Li1,2, Laijin Zhong1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Abstract:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) undermines the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of good health and well-being. Antibiotics are known to exacerbate AMR, but nonantibiotic antimicrobials, such as quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), are now emerging as another significant driver of AMR. However, assessing the AMR risks of QACs in complex environmental matrices remains challenging due to the ambiguity in their chemical structures and antibacterial activity. By machine learning prediction and high-resolution mass spectrometric analysis, a list of antibacterial QACs (n = 856) from industrial chemical inventories is compiled, and it leads to the identification of 50 structurally diverse antibacterial QACs in sediments, including traditional hydrocarbon-based compounds and new subclasses that bear additional functional groups, such as choline, ester, betaine, aryl ether, and pyridine. Urban wastewater, aquaculture, and hospital discharges are the main factors influencing QAC distribution patterns in estuarine sediments. Toxic unit calculations and metagenomic analysis revealed that these QACs can influence antibiotic resistance genes (particularly sulfonamide resistance genes) through cross- and coresistances. The potential to influence the AMR is related to their environmental persistence. These results suggest that controlling the source, preventing the co-use of QACs and sulfonamides, and prioritizing control of highly persistent molecules will lead to global stewardship and sustainable use of QACs.
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