Antiviral defense systems drive persistence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria but limit the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes in anaerobic digestion

Junya Zhang; Tiedong Lu; Qihe Tang; Song-Can Chen; Daniel Rios Garza; Bin Liu; Yunwei Cui; Yuansong Wei; Hans Hermann Richnow

doi:10.1002/imt2.70145

iMeta ›› 2026, Vol. 5 ›› Issue (3) :e70145 DOI: 10.1002/imt2.70145

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Antiviral defense systems drive persistence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria but limit the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes in anaerobic digestion

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¹. State Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Sustainability, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

². University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

³. Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation, Nanning, China

⁴. College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China

⁵. State Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Safety, MOE Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

⁶. Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, PROSE, Antony, France

⁷. Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

⁸. Atmospheric Chemistry Department (ACD), Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig, Germany

yswei@rcees.ac.cn

richnow@tropos.de

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Junya Zhang, Tiedong Lu, Qihe Tang, Song-Can Chen, Daniel Rios Garza, Bin Liu, Yunwei Cui, Yuansong Wei, Hans Hermann Richnow. Antiviral defense systems drive persistence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria but limit the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes in anaerobic digestion. iMeta, 2026, 5 (3) : e70145 DOI:10.1002/imt2.70145

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