Plasmid metagenome reveals high levels of antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements in activated sludge

The overuse or misuse of antibiotics has accelerated antibiotic resistance, creating a major challenge for the public health in the world. Sewage treatment plants are considered as important reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes and activated sludge characterized with high microbial density and diversity facilitates ARG horizontal gene transfer (HGT) via mobile genetic elements. In this study, the culture-independent transposon aided capture system was employed to isolate novel plasmids from activated sludge of Shatin Sewage Treatment Plant (Hong Kong, China). We also used Illumina Hiseq 2000 high-throughput sequencing and metagenomics analysis to investigate the plasmid metagenome.