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Journal ArticleDOI

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in natural environments.

José L. Martínez
- 18 Jul 2008 - 
- Vol. 321, Iss: 5887, pp 365-367
TLDR
The large majority of antibiotics currently used for treating infections and the antibiotic resistance genes acquired by human pathogens each have an environmental origin and the function of these elements in their environmental reservoirs may be very distinct from the “weapon-shield” role they play in clinical settings.
Abstract
The large majority of antibiotics currently used for treating infections and the antibiotic resistance genes acquired by human pathogens each have an environmental origin. Recent work indicates that the function of these elements in their environmental reservoirs may be very distinct from the "weapon-shield" role they play in clinical settings. Changes in natural ecosystems, including the release of large amounts of antimicrobials, might alter the population dynamics of microorganisms, including selection of resistance, with consequences for human health that are difficult to predict.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Natural Antibiotic Resistance and Contamination by Antibiotic Resistance Determinants: The Two Ages in the Evolution of Resistance to Antimicrobials

TL;DR: The study of antibiotic resistance has been historically concentrated on the analysis of bacterial pathogens and on the consequences of acquiring resistance for human health, but the studies on antibiotic resistance should not be confined to clinical-associated ecosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI

Environmental pollution by antibiotics and by antibiotic resistance determinants

TL;DR: The impact that pollution by antibiotics or by antibiotic resistance genes may have for both human health and for the evolution of environmental microbial populations is reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Selection of resistant bacteria at very low antibiotic concentrations.

TL;DR: It is suggested that the low antibiotic concentrations found in many natural environments are important for enrichment and maintenance of resistance in bacterial populations.
Journal ArticleDOI

The shared antibiotic resistome of soil bacteria and human pathogens

TL;DR: Multidrug-resistant soil bacteria containing resistance cassettes against five classes of antibiotics are described that have perfect nucleotide identity to genes from diverse human pathogens, offering not only evidence of lateral exchange but also a mechanism by which antibiotic resistance disseminates.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Heavy use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture: a growing problem for human and animal health and for the environment

TL;DR: Global efforts are needed to promote more judicious use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture as accumulating evidence indicates that unrestricted use is detrimental to fish, terrestrial animals, and human health and the environment.
Journal ArticleDOI

Inactivation of antibiotics and the dissemination of resistance genes.

TL;DR: Although bacterial conjugation once was believed to be restricted in host range, it now appears that this mechanism of transfer permits genetic exchange between many different bacterial genera in nature.
Journal ArticleDOI

Sampling the Antibiotic Resistome

TL;DR: This work has shown that soil-dwelling bacteria are a reservoir of resistance determinants that can be mobilized into the microbial community, and study of this reservoir could provide an early warning system for future clinically relevant antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
Journal ArticleDOI

Multidrug-resistance efflux pumps ? not just for resistance

TL;DR: Evidence is presented that multidrug-resistance efflux pumps have roles in bacterial pathogenicity and it is proposed that these pumps therefore have greater clinical relevance than is usually attributed to them.
Journal ArticleDOI

Quinolone resistance from a transferable plasmid

TL;DR: Although resistance was low in wild-type strains, higher levels of quinolone resistance arose readily by mutation, suggesting that a multiresistance plasmid can speed the development and spread of resistance to these valuable antimicrobial agents.
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