Class 1 integrons have played a major role in the global dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Reconstructing the history of class 1 integrons might help us control further spread of antibiotic resistance by understanding how human activities influence microbial evolution. Here we describe a class 1 integron that represents an intermediate stage in the evolutionary history of clinical integrons. It was embedded in a series of nested transposons, carried on an IncP plasmid resident in Enterobacter, isolated from the surface of baby spinach leaves. Based on the structure of this integron, we present a modified hypothesis for integron assembly, where the ancestral clinical class 1 integron was captured from a betaproteobacterial chromosome to form a Tn402-like transposon. This transposon then inserted into a plasmid-borne Tn21-like ancestor while in an environmental setting, possibly a bacterium resident in the phyllosphere. We suggest that the qacE gene cassette, conferring resistance to biocides, together with the mercury resistance operon carried by Tn21, provided a selective advantage when this bacterium made its way into the human commensal flora via food. The integron characterized here was located in Tn6007, which along with Tn6008, forms part of the larger Tn6006 transposon, itself inserted into another transposable element to form the Tn21-like transposon, Tn6005. This element has previously been described from the human microbiota, but with a promoter mutation that upregulates integron cassette expression. This element we describe here is from an environmental bacterium, and supports the hypothesis that the ancestral class 1 integron migrated into anthropogenic settings via foodstuffs. Selection pressures brought about by early antimicrobial agents, including mercury, arsenic and disinfectants, promoted its initial fixation, the acquisition of promoter mutations, and subsequent dissemination into various species and pathogens.
Antibiotics are disseminated into aquatic environments via human waste streams and agricultural run-off. Here they can persist at low, but biologically relevant, concentrations. Antibiotic pollution establishes a selection gradient for resistance and may also raise the frequency of events that generate resistance: point mutations; recombination; and lateral gene transfer. This study examined the response of bacteria to sub-inhibitory levels of antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas protegens were exposed kanamycin, tetracycline or ciprofloxacin at 1/10 the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) in a serial streaking experiment over 40 passages. Significant changes in rep-PCR fingerprints were noted in both species when exposed to sub-inhibitory antibiotic concentrations. These changes were observed in as few as five passages, despite the fact that the protocols used sample less than 0.3% of the genome, in turn suggesting much more widespread alterations to sequence and genome architecture. Experimental lines also displayed variant colony morphologies. The final MICs were significantly higher in some experimental lineages of P. protegens, suggesting that 1/10 the MIC induces de-novo mutation events that generate resistance phenotypes. The implications of these results are clear: exposure of the environmental microbiome to antibiotic pollution will induce similar changes, including generating newly resistant species that may be of significant concern for human health.
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