Marine sediment bacteria harbor antibiotic resistance genes highly similar to those found in human pathogens.
The ocean is a natural habitat for antibiotic-producing bacteria, and marine aquaculture introduces antibiotics into the ocean to treat infections and improve aquaculture production. Studies have shown that the ocean is an important reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes. However, there is a lack of understanding and knowledge about the clinical importance of the ocean resistome. We investigated the relationship between the ocean bacterial resistome and pathogenic resistome. We applied high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic analyses to explore the resistance genes in bacterial plasmids from marine sediments. Numerous putative resistance determinants were detected among the resistance genes in the sediment bacteria. We also found that several contigs shared high identity with transposons or plasmids from human pathogens, indicating that the sediment bacteria recently contributed or acquired resistance genes from pathogens. Marine sediment bacteria could play an important role in the global exchange of antibiotic resistance.
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
Jing
J
Yang
Chao
C
Wang
Chang
C
Shu
Li
L
Liu
Jianing
J
Geng
Songnian
S
Hu
Jie
J
Feng
D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D056186:Metagenomics; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology
D001426:Bacterial Proteins