Overexpression of antibiotic resistance genes in hospital effluents over time

Rowe, Will P. M., Baker-Austin, Craig, Verner-Jeffreys, David W., Ryan, Jim J., Micallef, Christianne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4513-8199, Maskell, Duncan J. and Pearce, Gareth P. (2017) Overexpression of antibiotic resistance genes in hospital effluents over time. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 72 (6). pp. 1617-1623. ISSN 0305-7453

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Abstract

Objectives: Effluents contain a diverse abundance of antibiotic resistance genes that augment the resistome of receiving aquatic environments. However, uncertainty remains regarding their temporal persistence, transcription and response to anthropogenic factors, such as antibiotic usage. We present a spatiotemporal study within a river catchment (River Cam, UK) that aims to determine the contribution of antibiotic resistance genecontaining effluents originating from sites of varying antibiotic usage to the receiving environment. Methods: Gene abundance in effluents (municipal hospital and dairy farm) was compared against background samples of the receiving aquatic environment (i.e. the catchment source) to determine the resistome contribution of effluents. We used metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to correlate DNA and RNA abundance and identified differentially regulated gene transcripts. Results: We found thatmean antibiotic resistance gene and transcript abundances were correlated for both hospital (ρ=0.9, two-tailed P < 0.0001) and farm (ρ=0.5, two-tailed P < 0.0001) effluents and that two β-lactam resistance genes (blaGES and blaOXA)were overexpressed in all hospital effluent samples. High β-lactam resistance gene transcript abundancewas related to hospital antibiotic usage over timeand hospital effluents contained antibiotic residues. Conclusions: We conclude that effluents contribute high levels of antibiotic resistance genes to the aquatic environment; these genes are expressed at significant levels and are possibly related to the level of antibiotic usage at the effluent source.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding Information: Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing was performed by the Sequencing Service and Wellcome Trust Biomedical Informatics Hub, Exeter (UK). LC-MS was performed by RPS Mountainheath, Hertfordshire (UK). Antimicrobial usage data were provided by Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge (UK). This research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, GlaxoSmithKline and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. Publisher Copyright: © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords: pharmacology,microbiology (medical),infectious diseases,pharmacology (medical),sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3000/3004
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2022 08:31
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2022 07:55
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/87418
DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkx017

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