engleski

Abundance of targeted antibiotic resistance genes in marine bacterial communities of central Adriatic Sea

Natural environments, particularly aquatic ones, are among the major sources/reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). We still lack much to comprehend the overall span of ARG repertoire available in marine environment as well as the role of bacterial communities as their vehicles, particularly in terms of proliferation and further dissemination of ARGs towards human pathogenic bacteria. The researchers found that anthropogenic factors had significant effects on the spatial distribution of ARGs, followed by the bacterial and physicochemical factors, indicating that multiple ecological mechanisms, including environmental selection as a consequence of human activities and local physicochemical parameters, as well as dispersal limitation, influence the distribution of ARGs in aquatic habitats. In this study, the relative abundance of targeted ARGs mediating resistance to five major antibiotic classes as well as multiple resistance, was quantified using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in seawater from sampling sites in central Adriatic, taken at various depths during summer and winter season to test the hypothesis that ARGs are more abundant in microbial communities at sites that are under anthropogenic impact. The results evidenced seasonal and spatial changes in ARGs distribution along the trophic gradient.

antibiotic resistance genes ; qPCR ; central Adriatic Sea

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