title: Antibiotic resistance gene spread due to manure application on agricultural fields.
abstract: The usage of antibiotics in animal husbandry has promoted the development and abundance of antibiotic resistance in farm environments. Manure has become a reservoir of resistant bacteria and antibiotic compounds, and its application to agricultural soils is assumed to significantly increase antibiotic resistance genes and selection of resistant bacterial populations in soil. The genome location of resistance genes is likely to shift towards mobile genetic elements such as broad-host-range plasmids, integrons, and transposable elements. Horizontal transfer of these elements to bacteria adapted to soil or other habitats supports their environmental transmission independent of the original host. The human exposure to soil-borne resistance has yet to be determined, but is likely to be severely underestimated.
authors.affiliation: Julius Kühn-Institute-Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI), Department Epidemiology and Pathogen Diagnostics, Messeweg 11-12, 38104 Braunschweig, Germany. holger.heuer@jki.bund.de
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heuer
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Kornelia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smalla
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D008372:Manure / Q000382:microbiology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008372:Manure