Co-occurrence of integrase 1, antibiotic and heavy metal resistance genes in municipal wastewater treatment plants

Co-occurrence of antibiotic and metal resistance genes revealed in complete genome collection

“…The above observed ARG and MRG abundance profiles within the genome collection, plus previous sporadic studies on coresistance in pathogens (Gillings et al, 2015;Wales and Davies, 2015;Di Cesare et al, 2016;Johnson et al, 2016) and the recently reported abundance correlation in clinically important genera (e.g., Escherichia, Shigella and Klebsiella) (Pal et al, 2015) kindled our interest in thoroughly investigating their possible physical genetic co-occurrence, particularly in humanassociated bacteria. Therefore, two concepts, the incidence of encountering ARGs along the distance from MRGs and their average minimum distance (MetA min ), were used to further evaluate the possible risk associated with ARG and MRG coselection by examining their likeliness of co-occurrence on Figure 1 Presence and absence of ARGs and MRGs in the complete genome collection.…”

“…In fact, ARGs/ MRGs have long been reported to reside on MGEs, including genes with resistance to almost all antibiotic families that are embedded in gene cassettes on integrons (Gaze et al, 2011;Gillings et al, 2015;Wales and Davies, 2015;Di Cesare et al, 2016;Johnson et al, 2016), and multiple resistance genes for commonly consumed antibiotics and metals that are located on plasmids (Carattoli, 2009;Zhang et al, 2011;Popowska and Krawczyk-Balska, 2013;Wales and Davies, 2015;Johnson et al, 2016). However, there is a lack of general information regarding the cotransfer potential of ARGs and MRGs in different populations, particularly those that are seriously impacted by human activities.…”

The occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in tap water – a review

“…Predominantly, the MGEs investigations are focused on the intI gene encoding the class 1 integronase [11,13].…”

“…This phenomenon is explained, among others, by the association of class 1 integrons to gene cassettes containing antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Therefore, investigations of ARGs are frequently supplemented by the intI gene research [11][12][13]. As ARB could cause incurable infections, the constant monitoring of their prevalence should be implemented in all environmental components, including wastewaters, soil, air, and waters [6].…”

“…As ARB could cause incurable infections, the constant monitoring of their prevalence should be implemented in all environmental components, including wastewaters, soil, air, and waters [6]. Resistant bacteria, if present in wastewaters, could reach the catchment of a drinking water treatment plant with purified, but poorly disinfected wastewaters and then enter the water supply systems, in the case of insufficient water treatment processes [13,14].…”