Antibiotic and Heavy Metal Resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Soils

1. 71 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated from soils and tested for resistance to antibiotics and heavy metals.
2. 6% were resistant both to 12/14 drugs and 9/12 heavy metals tested.     

Spatial Patterns in Antibiotic Resistance among Stream Bacteria: Effects of Industrial Pollution

The spatial distribution of antibiotic resistance to streptomycin and kanamycin was examined in natural bacterial communities of two streams. The proportion of resistant bacteria was substantially higher (P < 0.05) in the midreaches of an industrially perturbed stream, but no such pattern was apparent in an undisturbed reference stream. The highest relative frequency of resistance was found at the confluence of a tributary draining a nuclear reactor and industrial complex. Antibiotic resistance increased with distance upstream from the confluence and was positively correlated (r² = 0.54, P = 0.023) with mercury concentrations in the sediments. When the data for two years were compared, this pattern was stable for streptomycin resistance (paired t test, P < 0.05) but not for kanamycin resistance (P > 0.05). Our results imply that heavy metal pollution may contribute to increased antibiotic resistance through indirect selection.     

Modeling Non-inherited Antibiotic Resistance

A mathematical model is presented for the increase and decrease of non-inherited antibiotic resistance levels in bacteria. The model is applied to experimental data on E. coli exposed to amoxicillin or tetracyclin in different concentrations. The parameters of the model are estimated using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain method. The model accurately describes build-up and decline of antibiotic resistance caused by physiological adaptations as long as no genetic changes have occurred. The main conclusion of the analysis is that short time periods are sufficient to re-obtain low MIC-values after long-lasting exposure to these antibiotics.     

Reservoirs of Antibiotic Resistance Genes

A potential concern about the use of antibiotics in animal husbundary is that, as antibiotic resistant bacteria move from the farm into the human diet, they may pass antibiotic resistance genes to bacteria that normally reside in a the human intestinal tract and from there to bacteria that cause human disease (reservoir hypothesis). In this article various approaches to evaluating the risk of agricultural use of antibiotics are assessed critically. In addition, the potential benefits of applying new technology and using new insights from the field of microbial ecology are explained.     

重金属污染土壤的植物修复技术

土壤受重金属污染的状况在国内外都相当严重,传统的重金属污染土壤的修复技术存在许多难以克服的缺陷;近年来,一种运用植物来去除有毒重金属的新兴修复技术(植物修复技术)给这一问题提供了良好的解决途径,该技术被认为是一种低成本有效的“绿色”技术.但其主要缺点是修复周期较长,筛选、培育超积累植物以及提高土壤中重金属的生物有效性是提高植物吸收效果、缩短修复周期的关键.本文就超积累植物的筛选、转基因超积累植物及螯合剂强化植物吸收等热点问题的研究进展作了介绍,并对我国当前植物修复技术研究工作的重点提出了建议.     

2003年广州地区淋球菌对抗生素耐药性结果分析

目的了解广州地区淋球菌对抗生素的耐药性及PPNG和TRNG的流行状况.方法用琼脂稀释法测定最低抑菌浓度(MIC)以及用纸片碘量法检测β-内酰胺酶.结果 116株淋球菌检出PPNG30株(25.9%)、TRNG36株(31%)、环丙沙星耐药率达93.1%,头孢三嗪、壮观霉素未发现耐药菌株,且抗菌活性最强.结论持续监测淋球菌的耐药性十分重要.     

Origins and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

Summary: Antibiotics have always been considered one of the wonder discoveries of the 20th century. This is true, but the real wonder is the rise of antibiotic resistance in hospitals, communities, and the environment concomitant with their use. The extraordinary genetic capacities of microbes have benefitted from man''s overuse of antibiotics to exploit every source of resistance genes and every means of horizontal gene transmission to develop multiple mechanisms of resistance for each and every antibiotic introduced into practice clinically, agriculturally, or otherwise. This review presents the salient aspects of antibiotic resistance development over the past half-century, with the oft-restated conclusion that it is time to act. To achieve complete restitution of therapeutic applications of antibiotics, there is a need for more information on the role of environmental microbiomes in the rise of antibiotic resistance. In particular, creative approaches to the discovery of novel antibiotics and their expedited and controlled introduction to therapy are obligatory.     

Riboswitch Control of Aminoglycoside Antibiotic Resistance

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Highlights? The 5′ leader RNA of aminoglycoside antibiotic-resistance genes is conserved ? Aminoglycosides induce reporter gene expression by interacting with the leader RNA ? The aminoglycosides bind to the leader RNA and induce a change in the RNA structure ? Induction is independent of leader peptide stalling or drug-ribosome interactions     

Inhibiting the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

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Crossroads of Antibiotic Resistance and Biosynthesis

The biosynthesis of antibiotics and self-protection mechanisms employed by antibiotic producers are an integral part of the growing antibiotic resistance threat. The origins of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes found in human pathogens have been traced to ancient microbial producers of antibiotics in natural environments. Widespread and frequent antibiotic use amplifies environmental pools of antibiotic resistance genes and increases the likelihood for the selection of a resistance event in human pathogens. This perspective will provide an overview of the origins of antibiotic resistance to highlight the crossroads of antibiotic biosynthesis and producer self-protection that result in clinically relevant resistance mechanisms. Some case studies of synergistic antibiotic combinations, adjuvants, and hybrid antibiotics will also be presented to show how native antibiotic producers manage the emergence of antibiotic resistance.     

Benthic Diatom Communities Along pH and TP Gradients in Hungarian and Swedish Streams

Benthic diatoms are widely used in Europe to assess ecological status of running waters. The aim of this study was to develop models to predict average pH and total phosphorus (TP) for European stream monitoring using combined diatom data-sets from Hungary and Sweden. As first step, the relationship between the measured environmental variables and the distribution of the taxa was checked by classification by using cluster-analysis and CCA. Diatom data separated clearly along the main hydrogeochemical parameters (e.g. alkalinity, pH). Concerning nutrients, TP was the most determinant factor. Predictive value of the TP model (r = 0.96) is high only for the Hungarian data and the pH model (r = 0.97) can be used in both phycogeographical regions.