Milani Giovanni, Cortimiglia Claudia, Belloso Daza Mireya Viviana, Greco Emanuele, Bassi Daniela, Cocconcelli Pier Sandro
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Alimentari per una Filiera Agro-Alimentare Sostenibile (DISTAS), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 29122 Piacenza, Italy.
Antibiotics (Basel). 2024 Aug 2;13(8):727. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics13080727.
The global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is exacerbated by the mobilization of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) occurring in different environmental niches, including seawater. Marine environments serve as reservoirs for resistant bacteria and ARGs, further complicated by the ubiquity of microplastics (MPs). MPs can adsorb pollutants and promote bacterial biofilm formation, creating conditions favorable to the dissemination of ARGs. This study explores the dynamics of ARG transfer in the marine bivalve within a seawater model, focusing on the influence of polyethylene MPs on the mobilization of the -carrying gene and plasmid-encoded . Experiments revealed that biofilm formation on MPs by and facilitated the transfer of the resistance gene, but not the gene. Furthermore, the presence of MPs significantly increased the conjugation frequency of within mussels, indicating that MPs enhance the potential for ARG mobilization in marine environments. These findings highlight the role of MPs and marine organisms in ARG spread, underscoring the ecological and public health implications.
不同环境生态位（包括海水）中出现的抗微生物耐药基因（ARG）的移动加剧了全球抗微生物药物耐药性（AMR）的威胁。海洋环境是耐药细菌和ARG的储存库，微塑料（MP）的普遍存在使情况更加复杂。MP可以吸附污染物并促进细菌生物膜形成，为ARG的传播创造有利条件。本研究在海水模型中探索海洋双壳贝类中ARG转移的动态，重点关注聚乙烯MP对携带blaCTX-M基因和质粒编码的blaTEM的移动的影响。实验表明，大肠杆菌和肺炎克雷伯菌在MP上形成生物膜促进了blaCTX-M耐药基因的转移，但未促进blaTEM基因的转移。此外，MP的存在显著增加了贻贝体内接合的频率，表明MP增强了海洋环境中ARG移动的可能性。这些发现突出了MP和海洋生物在ARG传播中的作用，强调了其对生态和公共卫生的影响。
