Evaluating antimicrobial resistance in the global shrimp industry

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: The research data supporting this publication are provided within this paper.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing threat to global public health, and the overuse of antibiotics in animals has been identified as a major risk factor. With high levels of international trade and direct connectivity to the aquatic environment, shrimp aquaculture may play a role in global AMR dissemination. The vast majority of shrimp production occurs in low- and middle-income countries, where antibiotic quality and usage is widely unregulated, and where the integration of aquaculture with family livelihoods offers many opportunities for human, animal and environmental bacteria to come into close contact. Furthermore, in shrimp growing areas, untreated waste is often directly eliminated into local water sources. These risks are very different to many other major internationally-traded aquaculture commodities, such as salmon, which is produced in higher income countries where there are greater levels of regulation and well-established management practices. Assessing the true scale of the risk of AMR dissemination in the shrimp industry is a considerable challenge, not least because obtaining reliable data on antibiotic usage is very difficult. Combating the risks associated with AMR dissemination is also challenging due to the increasing trend towards intensification and its associated disease burden, and because many farmers currently have no alternatives to antibiotics for preventing crop failure. In this review, we critically assess the potential risks the shrimp industry poses to AMR dissemination. We also discuss some of the possible risk mitigation strategies that could be considered by the shrimp industry as it strives for a more sustainable future in production.CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri‐food Systems (FISH)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Raising awareness of antimicrobial resistance in rural aquaculture practice in Bangladesh through digital communications: a pilot study

This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis Group via the DOI in this recordOne of the key strategic objectives of the World Health Organisation's global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plan is to improve public awareness and understanding of this issue. Very few AMR awareness campaigns have targeted the animal production sector, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where rural communities can be geographically difficult to access via traditional face-to-face community engagement methods. Aquaculture is a major food production industry in Bangladesh and across Asia, an area which poses a significant risk to global AMR dissemination. In this pilot study, we sought to investigate the potential for digital communication materials to rapidly and effectively communicate AMR messages to rural aquaculture farmers in Bangladesh. Working with stakeholders from the Bangladesh aquaculture industry, we developed a 4-minute digital animation designed specifically for this audience and assessed its capacity to engage and communicate AMR messages to farmers. We then conducted a small-scale social media campaign, to determine the potential for rapidly disseminating AMR awareness materials to a large audience across Bangladesh, where there is an extensive 4 G internet network and an ever-increasing proportion of the population (57% as of December 2019) have mobile internet access. Thirty-six farmers were surveyed: all of them liked this method of communication and 97% said it would change the way they use antibiotics in the future. Through the social media campaign, the animation received 9,100 views in the first 2 weeks alone. Although preliminary, these results demonstrate the huge potential for digital communication methods for the rapid and widespread communication of AMR awareness materials to rural aquaculture communities in Bangladesh and across Asia. Our results support the need for more research into the most appropriate and effective content of AMR awareness campaigns for aquaculture communities and question the need for explaining the science underlying AMR in such communication materials

Metagenomic assessment of the diversity and ubiquity of antimicrobial resistance genes in Bangladeshi aquaculture ponds

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordData Availability: Raw sequencing reads were deposited in the ENA under BioProject PRJEB53918. Scripts for all bioinformatic processes are available on GitHub (https://github.com/ash-bell/Bangladesh_ARG_analysis/).In Bangladesh, fish provide over 60% of animal-source food with 56.2% of this coming from aquaculture produced predominantly in rural freshwater ponds. Increasing demand for fish products is driving intensification and resulting in higher disease prevalence, posing a risk to food security. Biosecurity is often absent in rural aquaculture practices in Bangladesh and antibiotics are commonly used to treat and prevent disease outbreaks. Antibiotics are often administered incorrectly - a key factor associated with the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR can be disseminated rapidly within microbial ecosystems via mobile genetic elements, posing a risk for humans and animals infected with AMR pathogens as treatments with antibiotics become ineffective. Early AMR detection and understanding of the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in rural aquaculture practices is critical for both food security, human health protection and food safety. Here, we apply a metagenomic approach to assess the ARG composition in pond water from six finfish (tilapia and pangasius) farms in the Mymensingh division of North-central Bangladesh. We found microbial communities within the ponds had similar alpha and beta diversities, with multiple ARGs predicted to confer resistance to eighteen different classes of antimicrobials. The most common ARGs conferred resistance to aminoglycosides and sulphonamides and were present in taxa associated with both fish and human pathogens. This ARG diversity potentially confers resistance to a wide variety of antibiotic classes and questions the effectiveness of current and future treatment of diseases with antibiotics in earthen aquaculture ponds. The microbial and ARG compositions between fish ponds within each farm were similar, which may relate to parallels in farming practices creating similar microbial selection pressures and thus comparable microbial populations. Without a more controlled approach towards antibiotic usage, we will inevitably further exacerbate the challenges in treating and preventing disease outbreaks as aquaculture production intensifies in Bangladesh.Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC

Antimicrobial Resistance in Aquaculture Environments: Unravelling the Complexity and Connectivity of the Underlying Societal Drivers

This is the final version. Available on open access from the American Chemical Society via the DOI in this recordFood production environments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are recognized as posing significant and increasing risks to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the greatest threats to global public health and food security systems. In order to maximize and expedite action in mitigating AMR, the World Bank and AMR Global Leaders Group have recommended that AMR is integrated into wider sustainable development strategies. Thus, there is an urgent need for tools to support decision makers in unravelling the complex social and environmental factors driving AMR in LMIC food-producing environments and in demonstrating meaningful connectivity with other sustainable development issues. Here, we applied the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) conceptual framework to an aquaculture case study site in rural Bangladesh, through the analysis of distinct social, microbiological, and metagenomic data sets. We show how the DPSIR framework supports the integration of these diverse data sets, first to systematically characterize the complex network of societal drivers of AMR in these environments and second to delineate the connectivity between AMR and wider sustainable development issues. Our study illustrates the complexity and challenges of addressing AMR in rural aquaculture environments and supports efforts to implement global policy aimed at mitigating AMR in aquaculture and other rural LMIC food-producing environments.UK Government ODA-funded projectEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF

Differentiation of haploid and diploid fertilities in Gracilaria chilensis affect ploidy ratio

Background Algal isomorphic biphasic life cycles alternate between free-living diploid (tetrasporophytes) and haploid (dioicious gametophytes) phases and the hypotheses explaining their maintenance are still debated. Classic models state that conditional differentiation between phases is required for the evolutionary stability of biphasic life cycles while other authors proposed that the uneven ploidy abundances observed in the field are explained by their cytological differences in spore production. Results We monitored the state and fate of individuals of the red seaweed Gracilaria chilensis periodically for 3 years in five intertidal pools from two sites with distinct conditions. We tested for differentiation in fecundity and spore survival among the gametophyte males and females (haploids) and the tetrasporophytes (diploids). We tested for the influence of fecundity and spore survival on the observed uneven ploidy abundances in recruits. The probability of a frond becoming fecund was size-dependent, highest for the haploid males and lowest for the haploid females, with the diploids displaying intermediate probabilities. Fecund diploids released more tetraspores than carpospores released by the haploid females. Spore survival depended on ploidy and on the local density of co-habiting adult fronds. An advantage of diploid over haploid germlings was observed at very low and very high adult fronds densities. Conclusions Neither spore production nor spore survival determined the highly variable ploidy ratio within G. chilensis recruits. This result invalidates the hypothesis of natural cytological differences in spore production as the only driver of uneven field ploidy abundances in this species. Diploid spores (carpospores) survived better than haploid spores (tetraspores), especially in locations and time periods that were associated with the occurrence of strong biotic and abiotic stressors. We hypothesise that carpospore survival is higher due to support by their haploid female progenitors passing-on nutrients and chemical compounds improving survival under stressful conditions.AHE was supported by fellowships SFRH/BPD/63703/2009, SFRH/BPD/ 107878/2015 and UID/Multi/04326/2016 of the National Science Foundation FCT of Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio