Bacteria Subsisting on Antibiotics
Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2008 papers
Abstract
Antibiotics are a crucial line of defense against bacterial infections. Nevertheless, several antibiotics are natural products of microorganisms that have as yet poorly appreciated ecological roles in the wider environment. We isolated hundreds of soil bacteria with the capacity to grow on antibiotics as a sole carbon source. Of 18 antibiotics tested, representing eight major classes of natural and synthetic origin, 13 to 17 supported the growth of clonal bacteria from each of 11 diverse soils. Bacteria subsisting on antibiotics are surprisingly phylogenetically diverse, and many are closely related to human pathogens. Furthermore, each antibiotic-consuming isolate was resistant to multiple antibiotics at clinically relevant concentrations. This phenomenon suggests that this unappreciated reservoir of antibiotic-resistance determinants can contribute to the increasing levels of multiple antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria.
Related Papers
- → Crossroads of Antibiotic Resistance and Biosynthesis(2019)166 cited
- → Discrimination of pathogenic bacteria with boronic acid modified protonated g-C3N4 nanosheets at various pHs(2021)14 cited
- Distribution of 613 Strains of Pathogenic Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance of the Main Pathogenic Bacteria analysis(2013)
- Investigation on the Distribution of Pathogenic Bacteria and Drug Resistance Situation of 102 Patients with Incision Infection(2014)
- → Actividad antibiótica de bacterias marinas ante bacterias patógenas de humanos.(1989)