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. 2016 Aug 3;2016(1):219-26.
doi: 10.1093/emph/eow021. Print 2016.

Vancomycin gene selection in the microbiome of urban Rattus norvegicus from hospital environment

Thomas Arn Hansen  1 , Tejal Joshi  2 , Anders Rhod Larsen  3 , Paal Skytt Andersen  3 , Klaus Harms  1 , Sarah Mollerup  1 , Eske Willerslev  1 , Kurt Fuursted  3 , Lars Peter Nielsen  4 , Anders Johannes Hansen  5
Affiliations

Vancomycin gene selection in the microbiome of urban Rattus norvegicus from hospital environment

Thomas Arn Hansen et al. Evol Med Public Health. .

Abstract

Background and objectives: Widespread use of antibiotics has resulted in selection pressure on genes that make bacteria non-responsive to antibiotics. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria are currently a major threat to global health. There are various possibilities for the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. It has been argued that animal vectors such as Rattus norvegicus (R. norvegicus) living in hospital sewage systems are ideal for carrying pathogens responsible for fatal diseases in humans.

Methodology: Using a metagenomic sequencing approach, we investigated faecal samples of R. norvegicus from three major cities for the presence of antibiotic resistance genes.

Results: We show that despite the shared resistome within samples from the same geographic locations, samples from hospital area carry significantly abundant vancomycin resistance genes.

Conclusions and implications: The observed pattern is consistent with a selection for vancomycin genes in the R. norvegicus microbiome, potentially driven by the outflow of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria into the wastewater systems. Carriage of vancomycin resistance may suggest that R. norvegicus is acting as a reservoir for possible transmission to the human population.

Keywords: Rattus; antibiotics; metagenomics; rats; selection; vanb; vancomycin; wild.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Summary of resistome comparison. (a) Two-dimensional hierarchical clustering of significantly differentially abundant genes between hospital and non-hospital environments. Hospital samples (labelled CUH) show higher levels of vancomycin resistance genes compared to the non-hospital samples. Abbreviations are EM, Denmark, CUH, Denmark, BGC, Denmark, AE, Denmark, KLU, Malaysia, Kuala Langat, Malaysia (KLA) and Hong Kong, (HK). (b) Hierarchical clustering of normalized read counts of the ARG-ANNOT mapped genes, using Euclidean distance method. (c) A Venn diagram showing the number of genes shared among sample locations in Copenhagen area
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Proposed ecosystem. A proposed system of antibiotic resistance from hospitals acquired by bacteria that are carried further by rodents and passed on to humans that return to the hospital for treatment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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