[Occurrence Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Rural Drinking Water in Henan...

Antibiotic resistance genes （ARGs） as a novel type of pollutant can lead to the ineffectiveness of antibiotics used in clinical treatment. The environment serves as an important reservoir for ARGs, and therefore, the migration and transformation of ARGs in the environment have attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, studies on the presence of ARGs in rural drinking water environments remain scarce. This study focused on Henan Province, a major agricultural province, where 35 samples of rural drinking water were collected and quantitatively analyzed for 16 types of ARGs belonging to seven classes, as well as the integrase gene intI1. The results showed that sulfonamide ARGs were the most widely distributed and heavily contaminated ARG types in rural drinking water environments in Henan Province. Although tetracycline ARGs ranked second to sulfonamide ARGs in terms of content, their detection rate was lower. Chloramphenicol ARGs had relatively low average relative abundance and detection rates, indicating that contamination from ARGs of antibiotics less commonly used in the rural drinking water environment in Henan was less severe. intI1 showed a positive correlation with most ARGs, suggesting its crucial role in the dissemination of ARGs in the drinking water environment. GDP did not affect the distribution of ARGs, indicating less difference in investment in the prevention and control of ARGs pollution in rural environments across different regions. The abundance of ARGs in drinking water from different types of water sources showed negligible difference, and the removal efficiency of ARGs from source water by drinking water treatment processes may be an important factor contributing to this phenomenon.