Antimicrobial Resistance in Heavy Metal Polluted Areas

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 1065

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine, Law and Ethics, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine—USAMV, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: antimicrobial resistance; infectious diseases of animals; immunology; vegetal extracts; adjuvants for vaccines and other subjects
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Co-Guest Editor
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: regenerative medicine; molecular medicine; veterinary medicine; cell transplantation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Antibiotic resistance is a continuously growing threat for both people and animals. The inconsistent, abusive, and excessive use of antibiotics has over time led to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in medicine, veterinary medicine, and the environment. Similarly to people and animals, the environment has its own microbiome, including some non-pathogenic but antibiotic-resistant species. Industrial activities are carried out in certain environments, with particular microbiomes, and also where humans and animals bearing antibiotic-resistant bacteria are present. Thus, the degree of pollution with heavy metals, as part of the global pollutants to the environment, could impact the bacteria and their resistome, with severe consequences for inhabitants of the area.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Farming contributing to antibiotic resistance in heavy metal polluted environments;
  • Impact of various heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Zn, As, etc.) on antibiotic resistance gene transfer in non-industrial environments;
  • Dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in heavy metal polluted areas;
  • Potential role of resistance plasmids in heavy metal polluted environments in enhancing the emergence of diseases;
  • Prevention and control of antibiotic resistance in heavy metal polluted areas;
  • Antibiotic resistance transfer in heavy metal polluted environments.

Other topics are also welcome.

Dr. Marina Spinu
Dr. Pall Emoke
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • antibiotic resistance
  • heavy metals
  • pollution
  • zoonotic bacteria
  • survival

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 646 KiB  
Article
Effect of Zinc Oxide and Copper Sulfate on Antibiotic Resistance Plasmid Transfer in Escherichia coli
by Otávio Hallal Ferreira Raro, Laurent Poirel and Patrice Nordmann
Microorganisms 2023, 11(12), 2880; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11122880 - 29 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 889
Abstract
Heavy metals such as zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) may be associated with antibiotic resistance dissemination. Our aim was to investigate whether sub-lethal dosage of Zn and Cu may enhance plasmid transfer and subsequently resistance genes dissemination. Plasmid conjugation frequencies (PCF) were performed [...] Read more.
Heavy metals such as zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) may be associated with antibiotic resistance dissemination. Our aim was to investigate whether sub-lethal dosage of Zn and Cu may enhance plasmid transfer and subsequently resistance genes dissemination. Plasmid conjugation frequencies (PCF) were performed with Escherichia coli strains bearing IncL-blaOXA-48, IncA/C-blaCMY-2, IncI1-blaCTX-M-1, IncF-blaCTX-M-1, and IncX3-blaNDM-5 as donors. Mating-out assays were performed with sub-dosages of zinc oxide (ZnO) and Cu sulfate (CuSO4). Quantification of the SOS response-associated gene expression levels and of the production of reactive oxygen species were determined. Increased PCF was observed for IncL, IncA/C, and IncX3 when treated with ZnO. PCF was only increased for IncL when treated with CuSO4. The ROS production presented an overall positive correlation with PCF after treatment with ZnO for IncL, IncA/C, and IncX3. For CuSO4 treatment, the same was observed only for IncL. No increase was observed for expression of SOS response-associated genes under CuSO4 treatment, and under ZnO treatment, we observed an increase in SOS response-associated genes only for IncX3. Our data showed that sub-dosages of ZnO and CuSO4 could significantly enhance PCF in E. coli, with a more marked effect observed with IncL, IncA/C, and IncX3 scaffolds. Our study suggested that use of certain heavy metals is not the panacea for avoiding use of antibiotics in order to prevent the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Resistance in Heavy Metal Polluted Areas)
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