SHARE_WW · Spatial organization and Horizontal gene transfer of Antibiotic Resistance by ESBL in WasteWater
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-08-01 → 2020-07-31
- EU contribution
- €212,195
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Spatial organization and Horizontal gene transfer of Antibiotic Resistance by ESBL in WasteWater
SHARE-WW project is particularly timely due to the current situation of antibiotic resistance, already responsible for an estimated 25,000 deaths per year in the EU. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are often pointed out as hotspots for antibiotic resistance dissemination from problematic pathogens to environmental bacteria. Furthermore, it is described as inefficient in eliminating antibiotic resistance bacteria and genes from the treated effluent. Beta-lactams are a widely used class of antibiotics, some being the last resource in hospitals to treat multidrug resistant infections. Unfortunately, a fast growing resistance has been observed by different bacteria, widely detected in wastewater, mainly due to the production of β-lactamases, enzymes that degrade the beta-lactam antibiotics, and by growing as aggregates, known as biofilms. Therefore, it is urgent to uncover the relation between the biofilm bacteria’s strategy of growing as biofilms and the resistance to β-lactam. Consequently, one can define the role of wastewater treatment plants (and the environmental contribution) in promoting such fast growing resistance. This innovative proposal aimed to 1) analyse the role of sharing antibiotic resistance genes between different bacteria growing close together in biofilms, and its contribution to a collective β-lactam resistance; 2) Evaluate the impact of sharing the genes coding for the β-lactamase enzymes, by following its expression and localization in the biofilm; 3) Evaluate the role of WWTP in dissemination of beta-lactam resistance. As conclusions: the results gave deep insights to not only the mechanisms of spreading antibiotic resistance (the expression of beta-lactamases at the intracellular and extracellular level), but also the conditions underlying such events (species diversity in mixed biofilm is correlated with increased antibiotic resistance). Furthermore, it shows the importance of sensitive bacteria in producing a protective biofilm and shift the focus from focusing only on the resistant bacteria as solo individuals to include the mixed bacterial community, that demonstrate a cooperative behavior. Finally, one can conclude that, in the daily routine of human kind, WWTP have great impact on the selection of which beta-lactamase antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenic bacteria enters back in the antimicrobial resistant (One Health) cycle.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The tidal increase of clinical antibiotic resistance is of serious threat to public health and should be viewed in an integrated system influenced by the environmental dimension of antibiotic (AB) resistance. This innovative proposal intends to address the current knowledge gaps concerning the biofilm spatial organization and interspecies interactions that underlie the antibiotic resistance strategy by extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing bacteria thriving in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The proposal has 3 objectives: Obj.1) Evaluate the impact of interspecies interaction of ESBL gene sharing by conjugation in the biofilm collective AB resistance and its interdependence with bacterial spatial organization; Obj. 2) Evaluate the interspecies interactions concerning the cephalosporin resistance at a functional level by following the expression and localization of ESBL and other AB resistance related proteins; Obj. 3) Evaluate the potential of WWTP as hotspots for AB resistance by assessing the sharing of ESBL genes and their expression. Such objectives will be achieved by the implementation of 3 work packages that address each one in a stepwise approach with the use of state-of-the-art techniques, based upon the most up to date references. European Commission (EC) have declared antimicrobial resistance as an important global economic and a societal challenge, that must be tackled by a multi-sectorial approach, where the environmental sector is included. The SHARE_WW project will make important advances in the field of β-lactam AB resistance proliferation and environmental spread, by covering several scientific gaps referred in the most up to date literature. In line with the multi-sectorial EC approach, the results from this project will have great relevance for research and practitioners from other sectors like public health, food safety, biotechnology and industry, and are therefore of great relevance to the work program.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union