Data from: Chiral pesticides selectively influence the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes: An overlooked environmental risk
Data files
Dec 17, 2024 version files 10.49 MB
Mar 27, 2025 version files 10.51 MB
Abstract
The global spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) poses a critical threat to public health and environmental safety. Among environmental factors, the widespread use of chiral pesticides has raised ecological concerns, yet their enantioselective impacts on ARGs propagation remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigate how chiral pesticides influence microbial ARGs dissemination at the enantiomeric level. Using flurtamone as a model, we successfully separated and quantitatively analyzed its enantiomers (R-flurtamone and S-flurtamone) and evaluated their effects at environmentally relevant concentrations (0-80 μg/L). Remarkably, R-flurtamone significantly enhanced the horizontal transfer of ARGs, surpassing the effects of Rac-flurtamone, whereas S-flurtamone exerted negligible influence. Mechanistic insights revealed that R-flurtamone is more easily recognized by bacterial cells and induces more cellular stress responses. Additionally, R-flurtamone induced increasing cell membrane permeability, excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, SOS responses, and boosted ATP levels, further accelerating ARGs propagation. By integrating experimental findings with molecular simulations, we elucidated the enantioselective mechanisms underpinning ARGs transfer. This study highlights the overlooked risks associated with racemic chiral pesticides at enantiomeric level and provides a foundation for mitigating ARGs dissemination in agricultural and environmental systems.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2z34tmpwg
Description of the data and file structure
All files are in Excel or .tif format.
Fig1—High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC) and circular dichroism (CD) spectra of the flurtamone enantiomers;
Fig2—Impacts of chiral herbicide flurtamone exposure on the transformation of ARGs;
Fig3—Influence of the flurtamone enantiomers on cell membrane permeability;
Fig4—Molecular dynamics simulation of the interaction between flurtamone enantiomers molecules and cell membranes;
Fig5—Oxidative stress and SOS response induced by the flurtamone enantiomers;
Fig6—Changes in energy diving force in presence of the flurtamone enantiomers;
Fig7—Molecular docking of R/S-flurtamone with Tar and OmpC;
SI-FigS1—Influence of R/S-flurtamone on the cell viability;
SI-FigS2—Gel electrophoresis images of pUC19 plasmids extracted from recipient cells and transformants;
SI-FigS3—The number of transformants for pUC19 with the treatments of R-flurtamone;
SI-FigS4—Transformation efficiency for plasmids into cells exposed to the flurtamone enantiomers;
SI-FigS5—Transformation frequency for pUC19 plasmid into A. baylyi ADP1 cells exposure to the flurtamone enantiomers;
SI-FigS6—Heatmap with changes of genes related to cell membrane, oxidative stress, and ATP under the exposure of R/S-flurtamone compared with the exposure to Rac-flurtamone.
Version changes
27-Mar-2025: Updated the changes of ATP content and the results of molecular docking of R/S-flurtamone with Tar and OmpC
