Microbiome recognition of virulence-factor-governed interfacial mechanisms in antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity removal by functionalized microbubbles.

The frequent occurrence of epidemics around the world gives rise to increasing concerns of the pollution of pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria in water. This study investigated the impacts of virulence factors (VFs) on the removal of antibiotic resistant and pathogenic bacteria from municipal wastewater by ozone-free or ozone-encapsulated Fe(III)-coagulant-modified colloidal microbubbles (O ₃ _free-CCMBs or O ₃ -CCMBs). The highly interface-dependent process was initiated with cell-capture on the microbubble surface where the as-collected cells could be further inactivated with the bubble-released ozone and oxidative species if O ₃ -CCMBs were used. The microbiome sequencing analyses denote that the O ₃ _free-CCMB performance of antibiotic resistant and pathogenic bacteria removal was dependent on the virulence phenotypes related to cell-surface properties or structures. The adhesion-related VFs facilitated the effective attachment between cells and the coagulant-modified bubble-surface, which further enhanced cell inactivation by bubble-released ozone. On the contrary, the motility-related VFs might help cells to escape from the bubble capture by locomotion; however, this could be overcome by O ₃ -CCMB-induced oxidative demolition of the movement structures. Besides, the microbubble performance was also impacted with the cell-membrane structure related to antibiotic resistance (i.e., efflux pumps) and the dissolved organic matter through promoting the surface-capture and decreasing the oxidation efficacy. The ozone-encapsulated microbubbles with surface functionalization are robust and promising tools in hampering antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity dissemination from wastewater to surface water environment; and awareness should be raised for the influence of virulence signatures on its performance.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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