Heavy metal driven co-selection of antibiotic resistance in soil and water bodies impacted by agriculture and aquaculture

By C. Seiler, Thomas U. Berendonk. Front. Microbio., 2012

1,025 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The use of antibiotic agents as growth promoters was banned in animal husbandry to prevent the selection and spread of antibiotic resistance. However, in addition to antibiotic agents, heavy metals used in animal farming and aquaculture might promote the spread of antibiotic resistance via co-selection. To investigate which heavy metals are likely to co-select for antibiotic resistance in soil and water, the available data on heavy metal pollution, heavy metal toxicity, heavy metal tolerance, and co-selection mechanisms was reviewed. Additionally, the risk of metal driven co-selection of antibiotic resistance in the environment was assessed based on heavy metal concentrations that potentially induce this co-selection process. Analyses of the data indicate that agricultural and aquacultural practices represent major sources of soil and water contamination with moderately to highly toxic metals such as mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn). If those metals reach the environment and accumulate to critical concentrations they can trigger co-selection of antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, co-selection mechanisms for these heavy metals and clinically as well as veterinary relevant antibiotics have been described. Therefore, studies investigating co-selection in environments impacted by agriculture and aquaculture should focus on Hg, Cd, Cu, and Zn as selecting heavy metals. Nevertheless, the respective environmental background has to be taken into account.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bc667f3392176fe3ec3f4103be1c43282a07c86d

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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Yong-guan Zhu

In Pollution

Citations in the corpus

The Rising Tide of Antimicrobial Resistance in Aquaculture: Sources, Sinks and Solutions (2017, background): “, the use of cadmium in pesticides and fertilizers [48]), frequently results in metal concentrations in water and sediments that exceed levels predicted to drive the co-selection of antibiotic resistance in the marine environment [49].”
The prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes among Aeromonas species in aquatic environments (2014, background): “Additionally , it has been demonstrated that heavy metals can co-select the spread of ARG in the environment (Seiler and Berendonk 2012).”
Antibiotic resistome in the livestock and aquaculture industries: Status and solutions (2020, background): “…have been detected in the farm dust, air current inside the feeding operations, as well as in the groundwater under the influence of animal husbandry and feedlot areas in general (Hamscher et al., 2003; McEachran et al., 2015; Sapkota et al., 2007; Seiler & Berendonk, 2012; Zhu et al., 2013).”
Co-occurrence of resistance genes to antibiotics, biocides and metals reveals novel insights into their co-selection potential (2015, result): “[5, 43, 54], our study is the first large-scale attempt to”
Co-selection of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance in freshwater bacteria (2016, background): “Many HMs like Cu, Zn, cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), silver (Ag), and gold (Au) are physiologically necessary for bacterial life, as they are involved in a number of cellular functions (Seiler and Berendonk, 2012) but, depending on their concentraNo n”
Using the class 1 integron-integrase gene as a proxy for anthropogenic pollution (2014, background): “…of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance Baker-Austin et al. (2006) Diverse Various Review Shows co-selection of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance Seiler and Berendonk (2012) Diverse Various Review Shows co-selection of antibiotic and disinfectant resistance Hegstad et al.…”