@article {ZHANG2025100586,
	title = {Distinct ARG profiles associated with class 1 integrons in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants},
	journal = {Environmental Science and Ecotechnology},
	volume = {26},
	year = {2025},
	pages = {100586},
	abstract = {Class 1 integrons facilitate horizontal gene transfer, significantly influencing antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) dissemination within microbial communities. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are critical reservoirs of ARGs and integrons, yet the integron-mediated dynamics of ARG transfer across different WWTP types remain poorly understood. Here we show distinct ARG profiles associated with class 1 integrons in municipal and industrial WWTPs using a novel approach combining nested-like high-throughput qPCR and PacBio sequencing. Although industrial WWTPs contained higher absolute integron abundances, their relative ARG content was lower (1.27 {\texttimes} 107{\textendash}9.59 {\texttimes} 107 copies/ng integron) compared to municipal WWTPs (3.72 {\texttimes} 107{\textendash}1.98 {\texttimes} 108 copies/ng integron). Of the 132,084 coding sequences detected from integrons, 56.8 \% encoded antibiotic resistance, with industrial plants showing lower ARG proportions, reduced ARG array diversity, and greater incorporation of non-ARG sequences. These findings suggest industrial WWTP integrons integrate a broader array of exogenous genes, reflecting adaptation to complex wastewater compositions. This work enhances our understanding of integron-driven ARG dynamics in wastewater and offers a robust strategy for environmental integron analysis.},
	keywords = {Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), Class 1 integrons, High-throughput qPCR, PacBio sequencing, Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)},
	issn = {2666-4984},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2025.100586},
	url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266649842500064X},
	author = {Yan Zhang and Su, Zhiguo and Qiu, Xuyang and Liu, He and Wen, Donghui and Lyujun Chen}
}
