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DISTRIBUTION OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENES IN THE ENVIRONMENT:

THE ROLE OF MINERAL FACILITATED HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER

Combining recent research across disciplines, I see evidence that minerals hold a high and unrecognized potential for enhancing the distribution of the ARg in the environment. Adsorption of ARg to minerals significantly increases the ARg’s lifetime and facilitates their distribution by sedimentary transport processes. In addition, minerals also serve as a) sites for horizontal gene transfer (HGT), b) platforms for microbial growth and, hence 3) act as hot spots for propagation of adsorbed ARg to other microbes. However, some minerals and ARg are bound more strongly than others and various bacteria have different affinities toward various minerals. Those variations in affinity are poorly quantified but vital for predicting the distribution of ARg in the environment.

bug colony.png

Bacterial colony formation.

Image by Lisselotte Jauffred (collaborator from NBI)

The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARg) is a worldwide health risk1 and is no longer only a clinical issue. Vast reservoirs of ARg are found in natural environments2–4 such as soils, sediments and oceans. The emergence and release of ARg to the environment is in particular caused by extended use of antibiotics in farming, e.g. where the genes dissipate from the manure.5 Once in the environment, the ARg are surprisingly rapidly propagated. It is well known that the ARg are distributed to neighbour bacteria through processes of both cell sharing or through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) where one species acquirer resistance from another.6,7 Most HGT responsible for the spread of ARg are assumed to be through direct microbe-microbe contact. However, I find that the outcome of non-contact transfer is grossly underestimated. In the HGT mechanism called “Transformation”, free ARg in suspension or adsorbed to a mineral can be picked up and incorporated into non-related organisms. Considering that free DNA only can survive for a few weeks in sea- and freshwater environments,8–10 any HGT from free DNA can rightly be assumed to be local, but if the DNA gets adsorbed to a mineral, it can survive for several hundred thousands of years.11–14 If this also holds for ARg, then minerals offer a potent mechanism for distributing ARg through our environments my means of sedimentary processes.

KKS

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- Sep 14, 2020

Ten simple rules for building an anti-racist lab

This excellent paper by V. Bala Chaudhary and Asmeret Asefaw Berhe provide concrete actions, and how to manage them, for building a diverse and anti-racist lab.

Read the full paper her 10.32942/osf.io/4a9p8

Rule 1: Lead informed discussions about anti-racism in your lab regularly

Rule 2: Address racism in your lab and field safety guidelines

Rule 3: Publish papers and write grants with BIPOC colleagues

Rule 4: Evaluate your lab’s mentoring practices

Rule 5: Amplify voices of BIPOC scientists in your field

Rule 6: Support BIPOC in their efforts to organize

Rule 7: Intentionally recruit BIPOC students and staff

Rule 8: Adopt a dynamic research agenda

Rule 9: Advocate for racially diverse leadership in science

Rule 10: Hold the powerful accountable and don’t expect gratitude

So, what do I think that I as a group leader for

the SandLab - Molecular GeoBiology Group

should focus more on?

I can certainly enforce Rule 1 and 2 much more. I am doing OK on proposal writing and Rule 8 (but will keep up). I will take some action on Rule 4, and be more active in Rule 5 and 6. I currently have ongoing actions relating to 7, 9 and 10.

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