The fate and behavior mechanism of antibiotic resistance genes and microbial communities in flocs, aerobic granular and biofilm sludge under chloroxylenol pressure.

Chloroxylenol (PCMX), an antibacterial agent, has been widely detected in water environment and has toxic effects on biology and ecology. During 270 d, the influence of PCMX on the performance of three nitrification systems was investigated, including floc-based sequencing batch reactor (FSBR), aerobic granule-based SBR (AGSBR) and biofilm SBR (BSBR). The nitrification capability of three systems was inhibited by PCMX, but recovered after domestication, and PCMX made three systems realize partial nitrification for 10, 100 and 35 days, respectively. The extracellular polymeric substances of three systems increased first and then decreased with the increment of PCMX. The granular structure of AGSBR may be conducive to the enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and almost all ARGs of BSBR were reduced during the addition of 5.0 mg/L PCMX. The microbial community results showed that Rhodococcus as potential degrading bacteria was continuously enriched in three systems. Piscinibacter was regarded as the potential antibiotic resistant bacteria, which was positively associated with multiple ARGs in three systems. Additionally, quaternary ammonium compounds resistance genes had a variety of positive correlations with bacteria in three systems. This study provided a new perspective for the usage and treatment of PCMX.