SP 6: Isolation and characterization of environmental and fecal bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance gene.
Background
Irrigation with untreated wastewater in the past resulted in an accumulation of pharmaceutical residues and disinfectants in soils. Less is known about the consequences of changing irrigation scheme from untreated to treated wastewater with regard to dissemination of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and associated genes in the agricultural environment.
Hypotheses
We hypothesize that,
- Environmental concentrations of pollutants in treated or untreated wastewater, and those released from soil during irrigation (with treated wastewater) and taken up by plants are high enough to select antimicrobial resistance and trigger horizontal gene transfer in fecal associated bacteria in soils and plants.
- The soil type modulates the release of pollutants and the associated selection of antimicrobial resistant bacteria.
Methods
Culturomics to quantify the spread of potential pathogenic bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from irrigation water to soil and plants, and to determine the spread of antimicrobial resistance among environmental bacteria colonizing these habitats in joint experiments (SP4, SP5 and SP2)
Detailed characterization of cultured bacterial strains with respect to their phylogenetic identification, ARG/plasmid content, and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns (SP3, SP4, SP5)
In-depth characterization of plant colonizing multidrug resistant (MDR) potential pathogens and MDR environmental bacteria in comparison to wastewater-derived bacteria of the same species (SP3, SP4, SP5).
Team
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| Dipen Pulami (post doc) | Stefanie P. Glaeser (PI) |
| Dipen.Pulami | Stefanie.Glaeser |