Clark Melody S, Gregson Benjamin H, Greco Carla, Nair Harisree Paramel, Clark Marlon, Evans Claire, Hughes Kevin A, Hwengwere Kudzai, Leung Marcus, Peck Lloyd S, Walker Caray A, Chow William
British Antarctic Survey Natural, Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT, UK.
Environ Microbiome. 2025 Jan 20;20(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s40793-025-00671-z.
Despite being recognised as a global problem, our understanding of human-mediated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread to remote regions of the world is limited. Antarctica, often referred to as "the last great wilderness", is experiencing increasing levels of human visitation through tourism and expansion of national scientific operations. Therefore, it is critical to assess the impact that these itinerant visitors have on the natural environment. This includes monitoring human-mediated AMR, particularly around population concentrations such as visitor sites and Antarctic research stations. This study takes a sequencing discovery-led approach to investigate levels and extent of AMR around the Rothera Research Station (operated by the UK) on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Amplicon sequencing of biofilms and sediments from the vicinity of Rothera Research Station revealed highly variable and diverse microbial communities. Analysis of AMR genes generated from long-reads Nanopore MinION sequencing showed similar site variability in both drug class and resistance mechanism. Thus, no site sampled was more or less diverse than the other, either in the biofilm or sediment samples. Levels of enteric bacteria in biofilm and sediment samples were low at all sites, even in biofilm samples taken from the station sewage treatment plant (STP). It would appear that incorporation of released enteric bacteria in wastewater into more established biofilms or associations with sediment was poor. This was likely due to the inactivation and vulnerability of these bacteria to the extreme environmental conditions in Antarctica.
Our results suggest minimal effect of a strong feeder source (i.e. sewage effluent) on biofilm and sediment microbial community composition, with each site developing its unique niche community. The factors producing these niche communities need elucidation, alongside studies evaluating Antarctic microbial physiologies. Our data from cultivated bacteria show that they are highly resilient to different environmental conditions and are likely to thrive in a warmer world. Our data show that AMR in the Antarctic marine environment is far more complex than previously thought. Thus, more work is required to understand the true extent of the Antarctic microbiota biodiversity, their associated resistomes and the impact that human activities have on the Antarctic environment.
尽管人类介导的抗菌药物耐药性（AMR）传播到世界偏远地区已被视为一个全球性问题，但我们对此的了解仍然有限。南极洲常被称为“最后的伟大荒野”，随着旅游业的发展和国家科学考察活动的扩大，人类到访南极洲的次数日益增加。因此，评估这些流动游客对自然环境的影响至关重要。这包括监测人类介导的AMR，特别是在游客站点和南极研究站等人口聚集区周围。本研究采用以测序发现为主导的方法，调查南极半岛上罗瑟拉研究站（由英国运营）周围AMR的水平和范围。
对罗瑟拉研究站附近生物膜和沉积物的扩增子测序揭示了高度可变和多样的微生物群落。通过长读长纳米孔MinION测序产生的AMR基因分析表明，在药物类别和耐药机制方面，各采样点均表现出相似的变异性。因此，无论是生物膜还是沉积物样本，没有一个采样点的多样性高于或低于其他采样点。所有采样点生物膜和沉积物样本中的肠道细菌水平都很低，即使是从该站污水处理厂采集的生物膜样本也是如此。看来，废水中释放的肠道细菌融入更成熟的生物膜或与沉积物结合的情况很差。这可能是由于这些细菌在南极洲极端环境条件下失活且易受影响。
我们的结果表明，强大的输入源（即污水排放）对生物膜和沉积物微生物群落组成的影响最小，每个采样点都形成了其独特的生态位群落。产生这些生态位群落的因素需要阐明，同时还需要开展评估南极微生物生理学的研究。我们从培养细菌获得的数据表明，它们对不同环境条件具有高度的适应性，并且可能在气候变暖的世界中茁壮成长。我们的数据表明，南极海洋环境中的AMR远比之前认为的复杂。因此，需要开展更多工作来了解南极微生物群生物多样性的真实程度、它们相关的耐药基因组以及人类活动对南极环境的影响。
