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. 2014 Jul 31;10(7):e1004219.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004219. eCollection 2014 Jul.

Bacteriophages as vehicles for antibiotic resistance genes in the environment

Jose Luis Balcazar  1
Affiliations

Bacteriophages as vehicles for antibiotic resistance genes in the environment

Jose Luis Balcazar. PLoS Pathog. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The author has declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Transfer of DNA between bacteria via phages.
A temperate phage inserts its genome (red) into the bacterial chromosome (blue-green) as a prophage, which replicates along with the bacterial chromosome, packaging host DNA alone (generalized transduction) or with its own DNA (specialized transduction). It then lyses the bacterial cell, releasing progeny phage particles into the surrounding environment. After lysis, these phages infect new bacterial cells, in which the acquired DNA recombines with the recipient cell chromosome (orange). This figure has been adapted from Frost et al. .
Figure 2
Figure 2. Metagenomic exploration of the resistome from human and environmental sources.
Relative distribution of reads assigned to three functional subsystems among 27 metagenomes (based on MG-RAST annotation, E-value  =  10−5). Data are normalized by the total annotated sequences and are expressed as a percentage. The horizontal line in each box plot represents the mean of the relative distribution in each of the five environments (oceans, soils, freshwater, human feces, and WWTPs). The 27 metagenomes used for the analysis are available at http://metagenomics.anl.gov . Accession numbers for oceans: 4441573.3, 4441574.3, 4441576.3, 4441577.3, 4441591.3, and 4443729.3; soils: 4441091.3, 4445990.3, 4445993.3, 4445994.3, 4445996.3, and 4446153.3; freshwater (rivers): 4511251.3, 4511252.3, 4511254.3, 4511255.3, 4511256.3, and 4511257.3; human feces: 4440595.4, 4440460.5, 4440611.3, 4440614.3, 4440825.3, and 4461119.3; and WWTPs: 4455295.3, 4463936.3, and 4467420.3.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Marti E, Variatza E, Balcazar JL (2014) The role of aquatic ecosystems as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance. Trends Microbiol 22: 36–41. - PubMed
    1. Frost LS, Leplae R, Summers AO, Toussaint A (2005) Mobile genetic elements: the agents of open source evolution. Nat Rev Microbiol 3: 722–732. - PubMed
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    1. Modi SR, Lee HH, Spina CS, Collins JJ (2013) Antibiotic treatment expands the resistance reservoir and ecological network of the phage metagenome. Nature 499: 219–223. - PMC - PubMed

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