Fermentation broth from fruit and vegetable waste works: Reducing the risk of human bacterial pathogens in soil by inhibiting quorum sensing

• Published in: Environment international Vol. 188; p. 108753
• Main Authors: Zhu, Lin, Li, Jingpeng, Yang, Jian, Li, Xiaodi, Lin, Da, Wang, Meizhen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: Fermentation broth; Human bacterial pathogens; Microbial contamination; Quorum sensing; Virulence factor genes; Human bacterial pathogens; Quorum sensing; Fermentation broth; Virulence factor genes; Microbial contamination
• ISSN: 0160-4120; 1873-6750
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108753

[Display omitted] •FFVW reduced the relative abundance of HBPs in soils.•FFVW inhibited the co-occurrence relationship between HBPs, VFGs and ARGs.•FFVW mitigated conjugative transfer of ARGs to prevent the diffusion of ARGs.•The declining risk of HBPs by FFVW was attributed to inhibition of quorum sensing.•The study offered an approach to control soil HBP risk caused by organic fertilizer application. Fermentation broth from fruit and vegetable waste (FFVW) has demonstrated remarkable ability as a soil amendment and in reducing antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) pollution. However, the potential of FFVW to mitigate other microbial contamination such as human bacterial pathogens (HBPs) and virulence factor genes (VFGs), which are closely associated with human health, remains unknown. In this study, metagenomic analysis revealed that FFVW reduced the HBPs with high-risk of ARGs and VFGs including Klebsiella pneumoniae (reduced by 40.4 %), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (reduced by 21.4 %) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (reduced by 38.7 %). Correspondingly, VFG abundance in soil decreased from 3.40 copies/cell to 2.99 copies/cell. Further analysis illustrated that these was mainly attributed to the inhibition of quorum sensing (QS). FFVW reduced the abundance of QS signals, QS synthesis genes such as rpaI and luxS, as well as receptor genes such as rpfC and fusK, resulting in a decreased in risk of ARGs and VFGs. The pure culture experiment revealed that the expression of genes related to QS, VFGs, ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were downregulated in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and K. pneumoniae treated by FFVW, consistent with the result of metagenomic analysis. This study suggested an environmentally friendly approach for controlling soil VFGs/ARGs-carrying HBPs, which is crucial for both soil and human health under the framework of “One Health”.