Antibiotic resistance genes in the animal manure-amended soil-plant system: Occurrence, transmission, bacterial hosts, and human health risks

Animal manure is a hotspot of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Manure fertilization, a globally prevalent agricultural practice, poses potential risks to food safety and human health by serving as a significant pathway for resistomes to enter the soil–plant system. In this review, the occurrence...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bingshen Liu, Zenan Shen, Qian Zhou, Jiayun Ren, Haiqing Wang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651325012357
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Summary:Animal manure is a hotspot of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Manure fertilization, a globally prevalent agricultural practice, poses potential risks to food safety and human health by serving as a significant pathway for resistomes to enter the soil–plant system. In this review, the occurrence and variability of ARGs in animal manure are introduced, and the impacts of manure application on ARG profiles in soils are assessed. Furthermore, a detailed summary is provided on the transmission pathways of resistomes from manure-amended soils to different plant compartments, including the endosphere and phyllosphere. Considering the critical role of ARG hosts in human health risk assessment, we provide a comprehensive summary of their taxonomic diversity as detected through culture–independent approaches. In addition, the research progress on human exposure risks associated with ARGs is discussed, including exposure pathways and indicators for risk assessment. Finally, this review outlines future research directions, including the development of mitigation strategies (focusing on attenuation mechanisms and transmission pathways of ARGs), the quantification of contributions from various ARG transmission pathways, and the systematic identification of ARG hosts. This review familiarizes readers with the current research status of ARGs in the manure-amended soil-plant system, highlighting the human exposure risks associated with ARG transmission across the manure-soil-plant continuum.
ISSN:0147-6513