Evaluating Climate Warming Effects on Soil Resistome and Pathogenome: Future Risks for Agriculture and Human Health

How climate change affects soil antibiotic resistome (i.e., the collection of antibiotic resistance genes) is a critical question for environmental and human health. By examining the dynamics of soil resisomes in a six-year (2014-2019) climate change experiment, this study provides explicit insights into the risk of antibiotic resistance in cropland and grassland microbiomes under future climate scenarios. Extreme summers (+2.2{degrees}C during 2018-2019) significantly shifted the resistomic composition, resulting in a prominent increase in abundance of ARGs (copy/cell) conferring resistance to novobiocin (52.7%-72.8%), tetracycline (32.5%-53.0%) and vancomycin (31.5%-62.9%). Importantly, simulated warming (+0.6{degrees}C) significantly increased the proportion of mobilizable ARGs, possibly resulting from the SOS response of soil microbes stimulated by warming-induced drought. In contrast, extreme summers decreased the mobility potential by dramatically filtering the hosts (e.g.,{gamma} -Proteobacteria) of mobilizable ARGs. Climate warming and extreme summers also offer a worrisome competitive advantage for specific soil-dwelling antibiotic-resistant phytopathogens (Clavibacter michiganensis and Rhodococcus fascians) and human pathogens (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis), which escalates the risk of outbreaks for specific plant and human infectious diseases. Overall, our findings emphasize the urgent need for continuous monitoring of soil ARGs and pathogens under the on-going global change. Such efforts are crucial for safeguarding human health and ensuring the sustainability of modern agriculture within a global One-Health framework. SynopsisClimate warming increases the mobility potential of soil antibiotic resistance genes, and both climate warming and extreme summers escalate the risk of outbreaks for specific plant and human infectious diseases.