Villalba de la Peña Mariana, Kronholm Ilkka
Department of Biological and Environmental Science University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Finland.
Evol Appl. 2024 May 29;17(6):e13707. doi: 10.1111/eva.13707. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Spreading of bacterial and fungal strains that are resistant to antimicrobials poses a serious threat to the well-being of humans, animals, and plants. Antimicrobial resistance has been mainly investigated in clinical settings. However, throughout their evolutionary history microorganisms in the wild have encountered antimicrobial substances, forcing them to evolve strategies to combat antimicrobial action. It is well known that many of these strategies are based on genetic mechanisms, but these do not fully explain important aspects of the antimicrobial response such as the rapid development of resistance, reversible phenotypes, and hetero-resistance. Consequently, attention has turned toward epigenetic pathways that may offer additional insights into antimicrobial mechanisms. The aim of this review is to explore the epigenetic mechanisms that confer antimicrobial resistance, focusing on those that might be relevant for resistance in the wild. First, we examine the presence of antimicrobials in natural settings. Then we describe the documented epigenetic mechanisms in bacteria and fungi associated with antimicrobial resistance and discuss innovative epigenetic editing techniques to establish causality in this context. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these epigenetic mechanisms on the evolutionary dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in the wild, emphasizing the critical role of priming in the adaptation process. We underscore the necessity of incorporating non-genetic mechanisms into our understanding of antimicrobial resistance evolution. These mechanisms offer invaluable insights into the dynamics of antimicrobial adaptation within natural ecosystems.
对抗菌药物具有抗性的细菌和真菌菌株的传播，对人类、动物和植物的健康构成了严重威胁。抗菌药物耐药性主要在临床环境中进行研究。然而，在整个进化历史中，野生环境中的微生物遇到过抗菌物质，这迫使它们进化出对抗抗菌作用的策略。众所周知，其中许多策略基于遗传机制，但这些机制并不能完全解释抗菌反应的重要方面，如耐药性的快速发展、可逆表型和异质性耐药。因此，人们的注意力转向了表观遗传途径，这可能为抗菌机制提供更多见解。本综述的目的是探索赋予抗菌药物耐药性的表观遗传机制，重点关注那些可能与野生环境中的耐药性相关的机制。首先，我们研究自然环境中抗菌药物的存在情况。然后，我们描述细菌和真菌中与抗菌药物耐药性相关的已记录表观遗传机制，并讨论在这种情况下建立因果关系的创新表观遗传编辑技术。最后，我们讨论这些表观遗传机制对野生环境中抗菌药物耐药性进化动态的相关性，强调引发在适应过程中的关键作用。我们强调将非遗传机制纳入我们对抗菌药物耐药性进化理解的必要性。这些机制为自然生态系统中抗菌药物适应动态提供了宝贵的见解。
