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Rebelo A, Mourão J, Freitas AR, Duarte B, Silveira E, Sanchez-Valenzuela A, Almeida A, Baquero F, Coque TM, Peixe L, Antunes P, Novais C. Diversity of metal and antibiotic resistance genes in Enterococcus spp. from the last century reflects multiple pollution and genetic exchange among phyla from overlapping ecosystems. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 787:147548. [PMID: 34000557 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), and copper (Cu) are among the major historical and contemporary metal pollutants linked to global anthropogenic activities. Enterococcus have been considered indicators of fecal pollution and antibiotic resistance for years, but its largely underexplored metallome precludes understanding their role as metal pollution bioindicators as well. Our goal was to determine the occurrence, diversity, and phenotypes associated with known acquired genes/operons conferring tolerance to As, Hg or Cu among Enterococcus and to identify their genetic context (381 field isolates from diverse epidemiological and genetic backgrounds; 3547 enterococcal genomes available in databases representing a time span during 1900-2019). Genes conferring tolerance to As (arsA), Hg (merA) or Cu (tcrB) were used as biomarkers of widespread metal tolerance operons. Different variants of metal tolerance (MeT) genes (13 arsA, 6 merA, 1 tcrB) were more commonly recovered from the food-chain (arsA, tcrB) or humans (merA), and were shared with 49 other bacterial taxa. Comparative genomics analysis revealed that MeT genes occurred in heterogeneous operons, at least since the 1900s, with an increasing accretion of antibiotic resistance genes since the 1960's, reflecting diverse antimicrobial pollution. Multiple MeT genes were co-located on the chromosome or conjugative plasmids flanked by elements with high potential for recombination, often along with antibiotic resistance genes. Phenotypic analysis of some isolates carrying MeT genes revealed up to 128× fold increase in the minimum inhibitory concentrations to metals. The main distribution of functional MeT genes among Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis from different sources, time spans, and clonal lineages, and their ability to acquire diverse genes from multiple taxa bacterial communities places these species as good candidates to be used as model organisms in future projects aiming at the identification and quantification of bioindicators of metal polluted environments by anthropogenic activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreia Rebelo
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Área Técnico-científica de Saúde Ambiental, Escola Superior de Saúde, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Portugal
| | - Joana Mourão
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal; Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal; Instituto de Investigação Interdisciplinar, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Ana R Freitas
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Bárbara Duarte
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Eduarda Silveira
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Centro de Investigação Vasco da Gama (CIVG), Departamento de Ciências Veterinárias, Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama, Coimbra, Portugal; Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Antonio Sanchez-Valenzuela
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Servicio de Microbiologia, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain
| | - Agostinho Almeida
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Química Aplicada, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Fernando Baquero
- Servicio de Microbiologia, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBER-ESP), Madrid, Spain; Unidad de Resistencia a Antibióticos y Virulencia Bacteriana asociada al Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Teresa M Coque
- Servicio de Microbiologia, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBER-ESP), Madrid, Spain; Unidad de Resistencia a Antibióticos y Virulencia Bacteriana asociada al Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Luísa Peixe
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Patrícia Antunes
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Carla Novais
- UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
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Baquero F, Coque TM, Martínez JL, Aracil-Gisbert S, Lanza VF. Gene Transmission in the One Health Microbiosphere and the Channels of Antimicrobial Resistance. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:2892. [PMID: 31921068 PMCID: PMC6927996 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2019] [Accepted: 12/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a field in which the concept of One Health can best be illustrated. One Health is based on the definition of communication spaces among diverse environments. Antibiotic resistance is encoded by genes, however, these genes are propagated in mobile genetic elements (MGEs), circulating among bacterial species and clones that are integrated into the multiple microbiotas of humans, animals, food, sewage, soil, and water environments, the One Health microbiosphere. The dynamics and evolution of antibiotic resistance depend on the communication networks linking all these ecological, biological, and genetic entities. These communications occur by environmental overlapping and merging, a critical issue in countries with poor sanitation, but also favored by the homogenizing power of globalization. The overwhelming increase in the population of highly uniform food animals has contributed to the parallel increase in the absolute size of their microbiotas, consequently enhancing the possibility of microbiome merging between humans and animals. Microbial communities coalescence might lead to shared microbiomes in which the spread of antibiotic resistance (of human, animal, or environmental origin) is facilitated. Intermicrobiome communication is exerted by shuttle bacterial species (or clones within species) belonging to generalist taxa, able to multiply in the microbiomes of various hosts, including humans, animals, and plants. Their integration into local genetic exchange communities fosters antibiotic resistance gene flow, following the channels of accessory genome exchange among bacterial species. These channels delineate a topology of gene circulation, including dense clusters of species with frequent historical and recent exchanges. The ecological compatibility of these species, sharing the same niches and environments, determines the exchange possibilities. In summary, the fertility of the One Health approach to antibiotic resistance depends on the progress of understanding multihierarchical systems, encompassing communications among environments (macro/microaggregates), among microbiotas (communities), among bacterial species (clones), and communications among MGEs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Baquero
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - Teresa M. Coque
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - José-Luis Martínez
- Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Sonia Aracil-Gisbert
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - Val F. Lanza
- Bioinformatics Unit, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
- CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
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