title: The shared antibiotic resistome of soil bacteria and human pathogens.
abstract: Soil microbiota represent one of the ancient evolutionary origins of antibiotic resistance and have been proposed as a reservoir of resistance genes available for exchange with clinical pathogens. Using a high-throughput functional metagenomic approach in conjunction with a pipeline for the de novo assembly of short-read sequence data from functional selections (termed PARFuMS), we provide evidence for recent exchange of antibiotic resistance genes between environmental bacteria and clinical pathogens. We describe multidrug-resistant soil bacteria containing resistance cassettes against five classes of antibiotics (β-lactams, aminoglycosides, amphenicols, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines) that have perfect nucleotide identity to genes from diverse human pathogens. This identity encompasses noncoding regions as well as multiple mobilization sequences, offering not only evidence of lateral exchange but also a mechanism by which antibiotic resistance disseminates.
authors.affiliation: Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Forsberg
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Selleck
authors.forename: Morten O A
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: Gautam
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dantas
mesh_terms: D000617:Aminoglycosides / Q000494:pharmacology; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D001483:Base Sequence; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D006801:Humans; D054892:Metagenome / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D056186:Metagenomics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000494:pharmacology; D013754:Tetracyclines / Q000494:pharmacology; D047090:beta-Lactams / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D013449:Sulfonamides; D013754:Tetracyclines; D047090:beta-Lactams