Widespread antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have caused critical threats to public health on a global scale. Soil, composed mainly of minerals, acts as a source of resistance determinants, playing a considerable role in the development and dissemination of ARGs. The great abundance of ARGs in the soil environment raises concern about the effect of minerals on the spread of ARGs. Herein, the horizontal transfer of a model plasmid pMP2463 containing ARGs from Escherichia coli S17‐1 to Pseudomonas putida KT2440 was monitored following exposure to four common soil minerals, namely, kaolinite, montmorillonite, goethite and birnessite. Birnessite resulted in concentration‐dependent increases in conjugative transfer of plasmid pMP2463 by 1.3–4.3 fold, compared with that in the control group. However, no obvious laws were found in the change of conjugative transfer rate at different concentrations of kaolinite and montmorillonite. As for goethite, the conjugative transfer rate increased firstly and then decreased as the concentration increased. The possible mechanisms underlying birnessite‐induced conjugative transfer of plasmid were explored; birnessite is capable of initiating intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, inducing the oxidative stress response. Additionally, birnessite notably facilitated the mRNA expression of the outer membrane protein genes, which contributed to cellular membrane pore formation and horizontal gene transfer, and altered the mRNA expression of conjugative‐related genes that are responsible for conjugative transfer of mobile genetic elements between bacteria. This study triggers questions regarding the potential role of soil minerals in the global dissemination of antimicrobial resistance and provides insights into the interactions between bacteria and minerals in the natural soil environment.

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对土壤矿物质影响的抗生素抗性基因共轭转移的见解

广泛的抗生素抗性基因（ARG）已在全球范围内对公共卫生造成了严重威胁。土壤主要由矿物质组成，是抗药性决定因素的来源，在ARGs的发展和传播中发挥了重要作用。在土壤环境中大量的ARGs引起人们对矿物对ARGs扩散的影响的关注。本文中，含有ARG的模型质粒pMP2463从大肠杆菌S17-1到恶臭假单胞菌的水平转移暴露于四种常见的土壤矿物（高岭石，蒙脱土，针铁矿和水钠锰矿）后，对KT2440进行了监测。与对照组相比，水钠锰矿导致质粒pMP2463的共轭转移浓度依赖性增加1.3-4.3倍。然而，在不同浓度的高岭石和蒙脱石中，共轭转移速率的变化没有发现明显的规律。对于针铁矿，共轭转移率先升高，然后随着浓度的增加而降低。探索了水钠锰矿诱导的质粒共轭转移的可能机制。水钠锰矿能够引发细胞内活性氧（ROS）的形成，诱导氧化应激反应。此外，水钠锰矿显着促进了外膜蛋白基因的mRNA表达，从而促进了细胞膜孔的形成和水平基因的转移，并改变了与结合相关的基因的mRNA表达，而这些相关基因负责细菌之间移动遗传元件的结合转移。这项研究引发了有关土壤矿物质在全球抗菌素耐药性传播中的潜在作用的疑问，并提供了对自然土壤环境中细菌与矿物质之间相互作用的深刻见解。