Anthropogenic gene dissemination in Tibetan Plateau rivers: sewage-driven spread, environmental selection, and...

The spread of anthropogenic genes, such as antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic elements (MGEs), virulence factor genes (VFGs), and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARBs), is a growing public health concern. However, the role of anthropogenic activities in the dissemination of these genes and bacteria in Tibetan Plateau rivers is still unclear. In this study, we analyzed 138 metagenomic samples from water and sediment across nine Tibetan rivers, along with sewage samples from 21 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), at both the gene and contig levels, to investigate the spread of the sewage-enriched genes and their bacterial hosts (contigs) in Tibetan rivers. Overall, sewage input was positively correlated with increased the abundance of an average 56 % and 17 % of detected genes in water and sediment, respectively. However, FEAST source tracking analysis revealed that the overall contribution of sewage across all rivers was significantly lower than that of water and sediment. Additionally, sewage's impact varied across rivers, with the Yarlung Zangbo, the largest river, exhibiting limited influence despite receiving inputs from smaller rivers and WWTPs. Neutral community model (NCM) suggested that neutral processes and negative selection predominantly governed the spread of majority of highly abundant sewage-enriched genes and contigs, suggesting restricted environmental spread. In contrast, a subset of genes over-represented relative to neutral expectations (above-neutral prediction) showed lower overall abundance but higher richness, potentially reflecting selection that favor their retention in certain downstream environments. Furthermore, sewage-enriched genes and contigs in water, regardless of their community assembly processes, were linked to microbial interaction modules dominated by microeukaryotic groups associated with sewage, including consumer protists (ciliate), human parasites (e.g., Naegleria), algae, and fungi. These interactions may facilitate the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in aquatic environments, though this pattern was less pronounced in sediment.