Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, 10257 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Microbiology and Virology Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 44307 Kaunas, Lithuania.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 23;24(7):6037. doi: 10.3390/ijms24076037.
As one of the most diverse habitats of microorganisms, soil has been recognised as a reservoir of both antibiotics and the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Bacteria naturally inhabiting soil or water often possess innate ARGs to counteract the chemical compounds produced by competitors living in the same environment. When such bacteria are able to cause infections in immunocompromised patients, their strong innate antibiotic resistance mechanisms make treatment difficult. We generated functional gene libraries using antibiotic-resistant and spp. bacteria isolated from agricultural soils in Lithuania to select for the genetic determinants responsible for their resistance. We were able to find novel variants of aminoglycoside and β-lactam resistance genes, with β-lactamases isolated from the spp. functional gene library, one of which is a variant of IND-like metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) IND-17 and the other of which is a previously uncharacterised MBL we named CHM ( metallo β-lactamase). Our results indicate that soil microorganisms possess a diversity of ARG variants, which could potentially be transferred to the clinical setting.
作为微生物最多样化的栖息地之一，土壤被认为是抗生素和抗生素抗性基因 (ARG) 的储存库。自然栖息在土壤或水中的细菌通常具有内在的 ARG，以对抗生活在同一环境中的竞争生物产生的化合物。当这些细菌能够导致免疫功能低下的患者感染时，它们强大的内在抗生素耐药机制使治疗变得困难。我们使用从立陶宛农业土壤中分离的耐抗生素 和 spp. 细菌生成了功能基因文库，以选择负责其耐药性的遗传决定因素。我们能够找到氨基糖苷类和β-内酰胺类耐药基因的新型变体，从 spp. 功能基因文库中分离出的β-内酰胺酶，其中一种是 IND-17 样金属β-内酰胺酶 (MBL) IND-17 的变体，另一种是我们命名为 CHM（金属β-内酰胺酶）的以前未表征的 MBL。我们的结果表明，土壤微生物具有多种 ARG 变体，这些变体有可能转移到临床环境中。
