Enriched multifunctional microbes coupling antibiotic resistance risk and nitrogen metabolic potential in eutrophic lakes.

Multifunctional microbes in eutrophic lakes show a 57.55% prevalence of antibiotic resistance and nitrogen metabolism genes, highlighting their role in resistome evolution.

• Why it matters: Understanding how microbes respond to combined eutrophication and antibiotic contamination is crucial for managing ecological and biosafety risks in lakes, which are increasingly threatened.
• What they did: Metagenomic binning of samples from three lakes with varying trophic levels revealed patterns of ARGs, VFGs, and NFGs, showing a transition from simple to highly integrated gene complexes in resistant microbes.
• The result: These multifunctional microbes, especially dominant groups like Limnohabitans_A, may influence both ecological functions and biosafety, offering insights for ARG risk assessment and eutrophication control strategies.