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The Scourge of Antibiotic Resistance: The Important Role of the Environment

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TLDR
The rapid evolution and spread of "new" antibiotic resistance genes has been enhanced by modern human activity and its influence on the environmental resistome, which highlights the importance of including the role of the environmental vectors, such as bacterial genetic diversity within soil and water, in resistance risk management.
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance and associated genes are ubiquitous and ancient, with most genes that encode resistance in human pathogens having originated in bacteria from the natural environment (eg, β-lactamases and fluoroquinolones resistance genes, such as qnr). The rapid evolution and spread of "new" antibiotic resistance genes has been enhanced by modern human activity and its influence on the environmental resistome. This highlights the importance of including the role of the environmental vectors, such as bacterial genetic diversity within soil and water, in resistance risk management. We need to take more steps to decrease the spread of resistance genes in environmental bacteria into human pathogens, to decrease the spread of resistant bacteria to people and animals via foodstuffs, wastes and water, and to minimize the levels of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria introduced into the environment. Reducing this risk must include improved management of waste containing antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.

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Co-selection of antibiotic and metal(loid) resistance in gram-negative epiphytic bacteria from contaminated salt marshes.

TL;DR: Results indicate that metal(loid) contamination selects for antibiotic resistance in plant surfaces in salt marshes, and differences among sites were not observed in terms of prevalence or diversity of acquired antibiotic resistance genes, integrons and plasmids.
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Critical evaluation of short, long, and hybrid assembly for contextual analysis of antibiotic resistance genes in complex environmental metagenomes

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the impact of assembly leveraging short reads, nanopore MinION long-reads, and a combination of the two (hybrid) on ARG contextualization for ten environmental metagenomes using seven prominent assemblers.
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The global challenge of new classes of antibacterial agents: an industry perspective

TL;DR: Suggestions are provided to overcome each of the hurdles faced by antibiotic developers in order to prevent the antibiotic pipeline from running dry.
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Intragenus generalized transduction in Staphylococcus spp. by a novel giant phage

TL;DR: This is the first report of successful intragenus generalized transduction among staphylococci, and phage S6 was a novel type of giant myophage, which possessed a DNA genome that contained uracil instead of thymine, and it could infect all of the tested stAPHylococcal species.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Antibiotics in the aquatic environment - A review - Part II

TL;DR: This review brings up important questions that are still open, and addresses some significant issues which must be tackled in the future for a better understanding of the behavior of antibiotics in the environment, as well as the risks associated with their occurrence.
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Antibiotic resistance is ancient

TL;DR: Target metagenomic analyses of rigorously authenticated ancient DNA from 30,000-year-old Beringian permafrost sediments are reported and show conclusively that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that predates the modern selective pressure of clinical antibiotic use.
BookDOI

Water for Food Water for Life : A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture

TL;DR: Molden et al. as discussed by the authors presented a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture, focusing on water for food, water for life, and water for the future of agriculture.
Journal ArticleDOI

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in water environments

TL;DR: Methods to reduce resistant bacterial load in wastewaters, and the amount of antimicrobial agents, in most cases originated in hospitals and farms, include optimization of disinfection procedures and management of wastewater and manure.
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