Environmental microbiome diversity and stability is a barrier to antimicrobial resistance gene accumulation

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Uli Klümper - , Chair of Limnology (Author)
  • Giulia Gionchetta - , Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Author)
  • Elisa Catão - , Université de Lorraine, Université de Toulon (Author)
  • Xavier Bellanger - , Université de Lorraine (Author)
  • Irina Dielacher - , Vienna University of Technology (Author)
  • Alan Xavier Elena - , Chair of Limnology (Author)
  • Peiju Fang - , Chair of Limnology (Author)
  • Sonia Galazka - , Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety GmbH (Author)
  • Agata Goryluk-Salmonowicz - , University of Warsaw, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Author)
  • David Kneis - , Chair of Limnology (Author)
  • Uchechi Okoroafor - , National University of Ireland Maynooth (Author)
  • Elena Radu - , Vienna University of Technology, Romanian Academy (Author)
  • Mateusz Szadziul - , University of Warsaw (Author)
  • Edina Szekeres - , Romanian Academy (Author)
  • Adela Teban-Man - , Romanian Academy (Author)
  • Cristian Coman - , Romanian Academy (Author)
  • Norbert Kreuzinger - , Vienna University of Technology (Author)
  • Magdalena Popowska - , University of Warsaw (Author)
  • Julia Vierheilig - , Vienna University of Technology, Interuniversity Cooperation Centre Water and Health (Author)
  • Fiona Walsh - , National University of Ireland Maynooth (Author)
  • Markus Woegerbauer - , Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety GmbH (Author)
  • Helmut Bürgmann - , Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Author)
  • Christophe Merlin - , Université de Lorraine (Author)
  • Thomas Ulrich Berendonk - , Chair of Limnology (Author)

Abstract

When antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) and genes (ARGs) reach novel habitats, they can become part of the habitat’s microbiome in the long term if they are able to overcome the habitat’s biotic resilience towards immigration. This process should become more difficult with increasing biodiversity, as exploitable niches in a given habitat are reduced for immigrants when more diverse competitors are present. Consequently, microbial diversity could provide a natural barrier towards antimicrobial resistance by reducing the persistence time of immigrating ARB and ARG. To test this hypothesis, a pan-European sampling campaign was performed for structured forest soil and dynamic riverbed environments of low anthropogenic impact. In soils, higher diversity, evenness and richness were significantly negatively correlated with relative abundance of >85% of ARGs. Furthermore, the number of detected ARGs per sample were inversely correlated with diversity. However, no such effects were present in the more dynamic riverbeds. Hence, microbiome diversity can serve as a barrier towards antimicrobial resistance dissemination in stationary, structured environments, where long-term, diversity-based resilience against immigration can evolve.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number706
Pages (from-to)706
JournalCommunications biology
Volume7
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jun 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-6048-6984/work/161890503
ORCID /0000-0001-5372-0923/work/161890581
ORCID /0000-0003-1851-2066/work/161890931
ORCID /0000-0002-9301-1803/work/161892036
Scopus 85195533460
PubMed 38851788
Mendeley 11c1a2c1-1a4c-32c2-8c68-ed4a381adcb9

Keywords

Keywords

  • Microbiota/genetics, Drug Resistance, Bacterial/genetics, Soil Microbiology, Biodiversity, Bacteria/genetics, Genes, Bacterial, Rivers/microbiology, Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology, Ecosystem