Exploring microbial community structure and biological function in manured soil during ten repeated treatments with chlortetracycline and ciprofloxacin

Abstract The changes of enzyme activities, microbial community structure and function, and the diversity and resistance level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) were studied in soil during ten repeated treatments with chlortetracycline (CTC) and/or ciprofloxacin (CIP) together with organic manure (OM) under laboratory conditions. The activities of neutral phosphatase (NPA) and catalase (CAT) displayed the suppression-recovery-stimulation trend in the OM&CTC treatment but the stimulation trend in the OM&CTC&CIP treatment. The NPA was stimulated but the CAT was little affected in the OM&CIP treatment. Soil microbial functional diversity displayed the suppression-recovery-stimulation trend in the OM&CTC and OM&CTC&CIP treatments and the stimulation-suppression trend in the OM&CIP treatment with the treatment frequency. Metagenomic analysis showed that the relative abundances of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes in the antibiotic treatment significantly increased by 0.5–235.6%, but that of Proteobacteria decreased by 0.2–27.3% compared to the control with the treatment frequency. Furthermore, the relative abundances of dominant bacterial genera including Streptomyces , Actinomadura , Mycobacterium , and Streptococcus in the antibiotic treatment significantly increased by 1.1–10433.3% compared to the control. Meanwhile, repeated antibiotic treatments induced a significant increase in the diversity and resistance level of ARB isolates, especially in the OM&CTC treatment. It is concluded that repeated treatments with CTC and/or CIP can alter enzyme activities, microbial community structure and function, and increase the diversity and resistance level of ARB isolates.