{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T12:02:46Z","timestamp":1790164966310,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"UAE-NIH Collaborative Research Initiative","award":["AJF-NIH-1-MBRU"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AJF-NIH-1-MBRU"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Aircraft wastewater (AWW) provides a composite environmental matrix reflecting passengers from diverse geographic origins and may serve as a surveillance tool for AMR monitoring. To characterize microbial community composition, antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), virulence factor genes (VFGs), and genome-resolved features of AWW. Samples (N = 10) were collected from long-haul flights arriving in the UAE between October 2024 and February 2025. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing and high-throughput quantitative PCR (HT-qPCR) were performed. Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were reconstructed. Shotgun metagenomics identified 752 bacterial species dominated by gut-associated families, including Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae. A total of 345 ARGs were detected, with tetracycline resistance genes being most abundant. Regional variation in resistome composition was supported by permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA, p = 0.010), and principal coordinate analysis indicated separation by flight-origin region. MAG reconstruction recovered 1012 genomes, with 85.4% resolved to species level. MAG-based annotation identified 280 VFGs corresponding to 116 non-redundant virulence genes. HT-qPCR confirmed the widespread presence of key ARG classes and mobile genetic elements across samples, in keeping with metagenomic findings. AWW contains diverse microbial communities and AMR determinants. Genome-resolved analysis provided organism-level context for resistome and virulome characterization, confirming AWW as an environmental matrix for monitoring transboundary AMR dynamics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14091988","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T12:51:48Z","timestamp":1788871908000},"page":"1988","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Aircraft Wastewater as a Sentinel for Transboundary Antimicrobial Resistance: An Integrated Genomic Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Abiola","family":"Senok","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Center for Microbial Sciences, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"School of Dentistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF14 4XY, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Rashed","family":"Alghafri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology, Dubai Police, Dubai P.O. Box 1493, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Douha","family":"Shouqair","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. 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Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Lobna","family":"Mohammed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Center for Microbial Sciences, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0433-5655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammed","family":"Naji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology, Dubai Police, Dubai P.O. Box 1493, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4651-4376","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdulla","family":"Albastaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology, Dubai Police, Dubai P.O. Box 1493, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Rania","family":"Nassar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Center for Microbial Sciences, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai P.O. Box 505055, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8458-6779","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dean","family":"Everett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 127788, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Biotechnology Center, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 127788, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Infection Research Unit, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 127788, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Richard","family":"Goering","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE 68178, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2434-1411","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mushtaq","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Zayed Bin Sultan Center for Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1199","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(24)01867-1","article-title":"Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990\u20132021: A systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050","volume":"404","author":"Naghavi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13898","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.9b03236","article-title":"Sewage from airplanes exhibits high abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes","volume":"53","author":"Kneis","year":"2019","journal-title":"Environ. Sci. 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