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High levels of antibiotic resistance gene expression among birds living in a wastewater treatment plant

View ORCID ProfileVanessa R. Marcelino, Michelle Wille, Aeron C. Hurt, Daniel González-Acuña, Marcel Klaassen, John-Sebastian Eden, Mang Shi, Jonathan R. Iredell, Tania C. Sorrell, Edward C. Holmes
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/462366
Vanessa R. Marcelino
aMarie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
bWestmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
cSchool of Life & Environmental Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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  • ORCID record for Vanessa R. Marcelino
Michelle Wille
dWHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.
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Aeron C. Hurt
dWHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.
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Daniel González-Acuña
eLaboratorio de Parásitos y Enfermedades de Fauna Silvestre, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 3349001, Chile.
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Marcel Klaassen
fCentre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia.
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John-Sebastian Eden
aMarie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
bWestmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
cSchool of Life & Environmental Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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Mang Shi
aMarie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
cSchool of Life & Environmental Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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Jonathan R. Iredell
aMarie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
bWestmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
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Tania C. Sorrell
aMarie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
bWestmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
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Edward C. Holmes
aMarie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
cSchool of Life & Environmental Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
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Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is rendering common bacterial infections untreatable. Wildlife can incorporate and disperse antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment, such as water systems, which in turn serve as reservoirs of resistance genes for human pathogens. We used bulk RNA-sequencing (meta-transcriptomics) to assess the diversity and expression levels of functionally active resistance genes in the microbiome of birds with aquatic behavior. We sampled birds across a range of habitats, from penguins in Antarctica to ducks in a wastewater treatment plant in Australia. This revealed 81 antibiotic resistance genes in birds from all localities, including β-lactam, tetracycline and chloramphenicol resistance in Antarctica, and genes typically associated with multidrug resistance plasmids in areas with high human impact. Notably, birds feeding at a wastewater treatment plant carried the greatest resistance gene burden, suggesting that human waste, even if it undergoes treatment, contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes to the wild. Differences in resistance gene burden also reflected the birds’ ecology, taxonomic group and microbial functioning. Ducks, which feed by dabbling, carried a higher abundance and diversity of resistance genes than turnstones, avocets and penguins, that usually prey on more pristine waters. In sum, this study helps to reveal the complex factors explaining the distribution of resistance genes and their exchange routes between humans and wildlife.

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Posted November 05, 2018.
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High levels of antibiotic resistance gene expression among birds living in a wastewater treatment plant
Vanessa R. Marcelino, Michelle Wille, Aeron C. Hurt, Daniel González-Acuña, Marcel Klaassen, John-Sebastian Eden, Mang Shi, Jonathan R. Iredell, Tania C. Sorrell, Edward C. Holmes
bioRxiv 462366; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/462366
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High levels of antibiotic resistance gene expression among birds living in a wastewater treatment plant
Vanessa R. Marcelino, Michelle Wille, Aeron C. Hurt, Daniel González-Acuña, Marcel Klaassen, John-Sebastian Eden, Mang Shi, Jonathan R. Iredell, Tania C. Sorrell, Edward C. Holmes
bioRxiv 462366; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/462366

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