There is growing awareness of the antibiotic-resistance crisis and its implications for public health among clinicians, researchers, politicians, and the public. We studied bacterial antibiotic resistance transition and the role of biofilms in a drinking water distribution system (DWDS). We tracked several different antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) with resistance to tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, and norfloxacin for one year in a DWDS. The results indicated that the amount of ARB increased in tap water, presumably due to biofilm detachment. The effect of biofilm detachment on the transmission of antibiotic resistance from biofilms to tap water was explored by using a bacterial annular reactor. The percentage of ARB of inlet water, outlet water, and biofilms ranged from 0.26% to 9.85%, 1.08%–16.29%, and 0.52%–29.97%, respectively in a chlorinated system, and from 0.23% to 9.89%, 0.84%–16.84%, and 0.35%–17.77%, respectively, in a chloraminated system. The relative abundances of antibiotic resistance Acinetobacter, Sphingomonas, and Bradyrhizobium were higher in outlet water than in inlet water, as determined by high throughout sequencing. The amount of ARB percentage varied with the concentration of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) cells (r = 0.21, n = 160, P < 0.05) in biofilm, suggesting a higher antibiotic resistance mutation rate in VBNC cells. Our results suggest that biofilm detachment was promoted by disinfectant and affected the overall bacterial antibiotic resistance of microbes in tap water.

临床医生，研究人员，政客和公众对抗生素耐药性危机及其对公共健康的影响的认识与日俱增。我们研究了细菌抗生素耐药性过渡和生物膜在饮用水分配系统（DWDS）中的作用。我们在DWDS中追踪了几种对四环素，磺胺甲恶唑，克林霉素和诺氟沙星具有抗药性的不同抗生素抗药性细菌（ARB）。结果表明，自来水中的ARB含量增加，可能是由于生物膜的分离。通过使用细菌环形反应器，探索了生物膜分离对抗生素抗性从生物膜向自来水的传递的影响。进水，出水和生物膜的ARB百分比范围为0.26％至9.85％，1.08％–16.29％和0.52％–29.97％，在氯化系统中分别为0.23％至9.89％，0.84％–16.84％和0.35％–17.77％。抗生素耐药性的相对丰度不动杆菌属，鞘氨醇，和大豆慢生均在出口的水比在进水更高，如通过高通量测序确定。生物膜中ARB百分比的量随活膜但不可培养的（VBNC）细胞的浓度而变化（r = 0.21，n = 160，P <0.05），表明VBNC细胞中较高的抗生素耐药性突变率。我们的结果表明，消毒剂促进了生物膜的分离，并影响了自来水中微生物的总体细菌抗药性。