Antibiotic Resistance Gene Quantities in Commercially Available Garden Products

Dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment has prompted concerns over the use of fertilizers to supply nutrients to plants. In this study, two sulfonamide resistance genes, sul1 and sul2, and one class 1 integron-integrase gene, intI1, were quantified in 34 garden products, 3 community soils, and 5 natural soils. sul1, sul2, and intI1 were present in 33, 34, and 31 garden products, respectively. sul1 absolute gene abundances ranged from 4.8 x 102 - 9.4 x 107 gene copies per gram and relative gene abundances ranged from 9.0 x 10-6 - 4.9 x 10-2 gene copies per 16s rRNA. Similarly, sul2 quantities ranged from 2.9 x 102 - 1.3 x 107 gene copies per gram and 6.1 x 10-6 - 5.9 x 10-1 gene copies per 16s rRNA. intI1 values were observed to range from 3.8 x 103 - 8.8 x 106 gene copies per gram and 3.4 x 10-5 - 5.1 x 10-2 gene copies per 16s rRNA. Although detected natural soils were approximately 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than garden products, community soils had comparable values to garden products. These results point to the importance of fertilizers in the proliferation of ARGs at the nexus of human-environment interaction

Disparate Antibiotic Resistance Gene Quantities Revealed across 4 Major Cities in California: A Survey in Drinking Water, Air, and Soil at 24 Public Parks

Widespread prevalence of multidrug and pandrug-resistant bacteria has prompted substantial concern over the global dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Environmental compartments can behave as genetic reservoirs and hotspots, wherein resistance genes can accumulate and be laterally transferred to clinically relevant pathogens. In this work, we explore the ARG copy quantities in three environmental media distributed across four cities in California and demonstrate that there exist city-to-city disparities in soil and drinking water ARGs. Statistically significant differences in ARGs were identified in soil, where differences in blaSHV gene copies were the most striking; the highest copy numbers were observed in Bakersfield (6.0 × 10-2 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 2.6 × 106 copies/g of soil), followed by San Diego (1.8 × 10-3 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 3.0 × 104 copies/g of soil), Fresno (1.8 × 10-5 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 8.5 × 102 copies/g of soil), and Los Angeles (5.8 × 10-6 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 5.6 × 102 copies/g of soil). In addition, ARG copy numbers in the air, water, and soil of each city are contextualized in relation to globally reported quantities and illustrate that individual genes are not necessarily predictors for the environmental resistome as a whole

Disparate Antibiotic Resistance Gene Quantities Revealed across 4 Major Cities in California: A Survey in Drinking Water, Air, and Soil at 24 Public Parks.

Widespread prevalence of multidrug and pandrug-resistant bacteria has prompted substantial concern over the global dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Environmental compartments can behave as genetic reservoirs and hotspots, wherein resistance genes can accumulate and be laterally transferred to clinically relevant pathogens. In this work, we explore the ARG copy quantities in three environmental media distributed across four cities in California and demonstrate that there exist city-to-city disparities in soil and drinking water ARGs. Statistically significant differences in ARGs were identified in soil, where differences in blaSHV gene copies were the most striking; the highest copy numbers were observed in Bakersfield (6.0 × 10-2 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 2.6 × 106 copies/g of soil), followed by San Diego (1.8 × 10-3 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 3.0 × 104 copies/g of soil), Fresno (1.8 × 10-5 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 8.5 × 102 copies/g of soil), and Los Angeles (5.8 × 10-6 copies/16S-rRNA gene copies and 5.6 × 102 copies/g of soil). In addition, ARG copy numbers in the air, water, and soil of each city are contextualized in relation to globally reported quantities and illustrate that individual genes are not necessarily predictors for the environmental resistome as a whole