Rare information on using antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) as new indicators for the wastewater contamination in coastal environment is available. This study investigated the distribution and sources of ARGs in a coastal bay influenced by anthropogenic activities including intensive wastewater discharge, which demonstrated that ARGs could be essential indicators for the wastewater contamination in coastal waters. Ten ARG subtypes encoding resistance to sulfonamides (sul1 and sul2), tetracyclines (tetB, tetG and tetX), quinolones (qnrA, qnrB and qnrS) and macrolides (ermF and ermT) were detected with high frequencies. The absolute abundances of ARGs in different functional zones of Sishili Bay differed greatly in the range of 10⁰–10⁸ copies/mL. The total abundances of ARGs in the zones influenced by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and sewage polluted rivers were relatively higher with the maximum up to 6.1 × 10⁶ copies/mL and 6.2 × 10⁷ copies/mL, respectively. The TN, nitrite, and silicate had extremely significantly positive correlations (p < 0.01) with the abundances of all target ARGs, as well as ammonium and TOC had significantly positive correlations with the target ARGs. A total of 402 pairs of strong and significant correlations between bacteria and ARGs were identified in samples from the zones influenced by wastewater pollution sources (rivers and WWTPs), while only 232 pairs of correlations were identified in other samples. It indicated the occurrence and prevalence of potential multi-antibiotic resistant bacteria in coastal waters contaminated by wastewater. These findings revealed that the occurrence and distribution of ARGs in the coastal bay were mainly influenced by the wastewater discharge. ARGs might serve as new indicators for the influence of wastewater discharge on coastal water qualities, since the wastewater discharge has critical influences on ARGs pollution in coastal waters.

有关使用抗生素抗性基因（ARG）作为沿海环境中废水污染的新指标的罕见信息。这项研究调查了人为活动（包括密集的废水排放）对沿海海湾地区ARGs的分布和来源的影响，这表明ARGs可能是沿海水域废水污染的重要指标。十个ARG亚型，编码对磺酰胺类药物（sul 1和sul 2），四环素类药物（tet B，tet G和tet X），喹诺酮类药物（qnr A，qnr B和qnr S）和大环内酯类药物（erm F和ermT）被高频率检测到。四十里里湾不同功能区中ARG的绝对丰度在10 ⁰ –10 ⁸拷贝/ mL范围内差异很大。受废水处理厂（WWTP）和污水污染河流影响的区域中ARG的总丰度相对较高，最大值分别为6.1×10 ⁶ 拷贝/ mL和6.2×10 ⁷ 拷贝数/ mL。TN，亚硝酸盐和硅酸盐与所有目标ARG的丰度具有极显着的正相关（p <0.01），而铵和TOC与目标ARG的丰度也具有显着的正相关。在受废水污染源（河流和污水处理厂）影响的区域的样本中，共鉴定出402对细菌和ARG之间的强相关性和显着相关性，而在其他样本中仅鉴定出232对相关性。它表明了废水污染的沿海水域中潜在的抗多种抗生素细菌的发生和流行。这些发现表明，沿岸海湾地区ARGs的发生和分布主要受到废水排放的影响。