Prevalence and dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in pioneer and developing Arctic soils

Roy, Shamik, Dawson, Robin A., Bradley, James A. and Hernández, Marcela (2025) Prevalence and dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in pioneer and developing Arctic soils. BMC Microbiology, 25. ISSN 1471-2180

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Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in soil is an ancient phenomenon with widespread spatial presence in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the natural processes shaping the temporal dissemination of AMR in soils are not well understood. We aimed to determine whether, how, and why AMR varies with soil age in recently deglaciated pioneer and developing Arctic soils using a space-for-time approach. Specifically, we assess how the magnitude and spread of AMR changes with soil development stages, including antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). We showed that ARGs, MGEs, and ARB are present, and exhibit a non-uniform distribution in the developing soils. Their abundance generally increases with soil age but at different rates overall and across different glacier forefields. Our analyses suggest a strong positive relationship between soil age and ARGs and ARB, which we attribute to increased competition between microbes in older soils. We also observed a strong negative relationship between soil age and ARG diversity mediated by soil organic matter – suggesting facilitation due to the alleviation of nutrient limitation. These contrasting results suggest that both competition and facilitation can regulate AMR spread through time in the Arctic, but competition might be the stronger determinant of AMR spread.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: Sequence data were deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under the bioproject accession numbers PRJNA1019501 for metagenomic raw data and PRJNA1019681 for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Funding information: Shamik Roy was supported by a NERC Discipline Hopping (DH) for Discovery Science grant awarded to Marcela Hernández (NE/X018180/1). Robin Dawson was supported by a Royal Society Research Fellows Enhanced grant awarded to Marcela Hernández (RF\ERE\210050). James A. Bradley was supported by NERC (NE/T010967/1) and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR23-CPJ1-0172-01). The research leading to these results has received Trans-National Access from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project INTERACT, under grant agreement No. 730938. Marcela Hernández was supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship (DHF\R1\211076).
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Molecular Microbiology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Wolfson Centre for Advanced Environmental Microbiology
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2025 15:30
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2025 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99985
DOI:	10.1186/s12866-025-03745-7

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