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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

High-throughput Screening of Chemical Compounds to Elucidate Their Effects on Bacterial Persistence
Published on: February 23, 2021
Protists show high resilience and thrive under multiple chemical stressors
Jijuan Ding1, Fei Liu1, Yuanchen Zhao1
1School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou China.
Abstract:
Protists are an underexplored but functionally important component of aerobic-activated granular sludge under pollution stress. Using metagenomics, we profiled protistan responses to ciprofloxacin, triclosan, and Cu2+ (alone or in combination). Protists remained a stable 6.35%-7.88% of the bacterial community, and the consumers were the most abundant groups. Ciprofloxacin showed little effect on protist abundance, while Cu2+ increased protist abundance, especially consumers. Stress conditions also strengthened predominantly positive protist-bacteria associations, suggesting cross-domain interactions that may enhance community resilience. These results demonstrate that protists are key determinants in stabilizing microbial communities under multiple stressors.
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