Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in soils pose a risk to ecological and human health, and are considered emerging pollutants. Application of nitrogen fertilizer affects the soil bacterial community structure and could be a trigger for the development of ARGs. This study explored the effects of two forms of nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N and NO₃⁻-N) on the abundance of six ARGs (blaTEM-1, cmlA, str, sul1, tetO, and tnpA-4) and bacterial community structure in soils using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and high-throughput sequencing. Our results show that the addition of 100–200 mg kg⁻¹ NH₄⁺-N or NO₃⁻-N increased the relative abundance of ARGs but decreased 16S rRNA gene abundance. Nitrogen addition at a rate of 100 mg kg⁻¹ NH₄⁺-N significantly reduced the abundance and diversity of the bacterial community, and the community structure differed in soil receiving NH₄⁺-N and NO₃⁻-N treatments. Pearson correlation and redundancy analysis supported a correlation between the soil bacterial community and ARGs with the addition of NH₄⁺-N or NO₃⁻-N. The increase in ARGs abundance with inorganic N may be ascribed to the changes in host bacterial communities. These findings suggest that NH₄⁺-N and NO₃-N application may trigger the development of ARGs in soil bacterial communities, and could be another risk factor in addition to the well-known effects of antibiotic exposure from animal manure on ARGs abundance in soil. We recommend that future work on this topic be attentive to experimental designs that include appropriate controls and references to improve understanding of the ARGs profiles in the soil bacterial communities.

土壤中的抗生素抗性基因（ARG）对生态和人类健康构成威胁，被认为是新兴污染物。氮肥的施用会影响土壤细菌群落结构，并可能引发ARGs的发展。这项研究探讨了两种形式的氮（NH ₄ ⁺ -N和NO ₃ ^-- N）对六个ARG（blaTEM-1，cmlA，str，sul1，tetO和tnpA-4）的丰度的影响。定量聚合酶链反应和高通量测序的土壤结构。我们的结果表明，添加100–200 mg kg ^-1NH ₄ ⁺ -N或NO ₃ ^-- N增加了ARGs的相对丰度，但降低了16S rRNA基因的丰度。100 mg kg ^-1 NH ₄ ⁺ -N的添加量显着降低了细菌群落的丰度和多样性，并且在接受NH ₄ ⁺ -N和NO ₃ ^-- N处理的土壤中，群落结构有所不同。Pearson相关和冗余分析证实了土壤细菌群落和args之间的相关性通过加入NH的₄ ⁺ -N或NO ₃ ^--N。富含无机氮的ARGs丰度增加可能归因于宿主细菌群落的变化。这些发现表明，NH ₄ ⁺ -N和NO ₃ -N的施用可能会触发土壤细菌群落中ARGs的产生，除了众所周知的动物粪便中抗生素暴露对ARGs丰度的影响外，它可能是另一个危险因素。泥。我们建议有关该主题的未来工作应注意实验设计，其中应包括适当的对照和参考，以增进对土壤细菌群落中ARGs谱的了解。