Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (IMBBC-HCMR), Gournes Pediados, Heraklion Crete, Greece.
Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 14;11(1):1336. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79359-y.
Although the rise of antibiotic and multidrug resistant bacteria is one of the biggest current threats to human health, our understanding of the mechanisms involved in antibiotic resistance selection remains scarce. We performed whole genome sequencing of 21 Pseudomonas strains, previously isolated from an active submarine volcano of Greece, the Kolumbo volcano. Our goal was to identify the genetic basis of the enhanced co-tolerance to antibiotics and acidity of these Pseudomonas strains. Pangenome analysis identified 10,908 Gene Clusters (GCs). It revealed that the numbers of phage-related GCs and sigma factors, which both provide the mechanisms of adaptation to environmental stressors, were much higher in the high tolerant Pseudomonas strains compared to the rest ones. All identified GCs of these strains were associated with antimicrobial and multidrug resistance. The present study provides strong evidence that the CO-rich seawater of the volcano associated with low pH might be a reservoir of microorganisms carrying multidrug efflux-mediated systems and pumps. We, therefore, suggest further studies of other extreme environments (or ecosystems) and their associated physicochemical parameters (or factors) in the rise of antibiotic resistance.
尽管抗生素和多药耐药菌的兴起是当前对人类健康的最大威胁之一，但我们对抗生素耐药性选择涉及的机制的理解仍然很少。我们对 21 株先前从希腊活火山 Kolumbo 火山分离出来的假单胞菌进行了全基因组测序。我们的目标是确定这些假单胞菌增强抗生素和酸度共耐受性的遗传基础。泛基因组分析鉴定了 10908 个基因簇（GCs）。结果表明，噬菌体相关 GCs 和 sigma 因子的数量在高耐受假单胞菌菌株中比其他菌株高得多，而这些因子都为适应环境应激提供了机制。这些菌株的所有鉴定的 GCs 都与抗菌和多药耐药性有关。本研究提供了有力的证据表明，与低 pH 值相关的富含 CO2 的火山海水可能是携带多药外排介导系统和泵的微生物的储库。因此，我们建议进一步研究其他极端环境（或生态系统）及其相关的理化参数（或因素）在抗生素耐药性上升中的作用。
