Correlation between Exogenous Compounds and the Horizontal Transfer of Plasmid-Borne Antibiotic Resistance Genes

Abstract

The global spread of antibiotic resistance has posed a serious threat to public healthcare and undermined decades of progress made in the fight against bacterial infections. It has been demonstrated that the lack of novel effective antibiotics and rapid spread of antibiotic resistance genes via horizontal transfer in the ecosystem are mainly responsible for this crisis. Notably, plasmid-mediated horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is recognized as the most dominant dissemination pathway of ARGs in humans, animals and environmental settings. Antibiotic selective pressure has always been regarded as one of the crucial contributors to promoting the dissemination of antibiotic resistance through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). However, the roles of exogenous compounds and particularly non-antibiotic drugs in the spread of ARGs are still underappreciated. In this review, we first summarize the major pathways of HGT in bacteria, including conjugation, transformation, transduction and vesiduction. Subsequently, an overview of these compounds capable of promoting the HGT is presented, which guides to the formulation of more reasonable dosing regimens and drug residue standards in clinical practice. By contrast, these compounds that display an inhibition effect on HGT are also highlighted, which provides a unique strategy to minimize the spread of ARGs. Lastly, we discuss the implementations and challenges in bringing these HGT inhibitors into clinical trials.

Potential Environmental and Human Health Risks Caused by Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (ARB), Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) and Emerging Contaminants (ECs) from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfill

“…Previous studies have documented that plasmids play a key role in the HGT of ARGs among environmental bacteria [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. Notably, the transfer of broad-host-range conjugative self-transmissible plasmids, such as the 60-kb RP4 plasmid (isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa ) that possesses genes for tetracycline resistance, ampicillin resistance, and kanamycin resistance, facilitate the dissemination of ARGs [ 46 ].…”

Benzydamine Reverses TMexCD-TOprJ-Mediated High-Level Tigecycline Resistance in Gram-Negative Bacteria

“…Antibiotic resistance mediated by chromosome mutation or horizontal gene transfer constitutes a global threat to public health [ 1 , 2 ]. Alarmingly, the emergence of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and MCR-producing enterobacterales (MCRPE) has aggravated the resistance crisis and leaves clinicians few choices from the existing antibiotic pipeline [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Detection of Virulence-Associated Genes in Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Commercial Broilers

“…Another health concern is the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an emerging global problem in human and veterinary medicine and one of the main challenges for the twenty-first century. Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics as a result of efficient horizontal gene-transfer mechanisms through mobile genetic elements such as plasmids, transposons, and integrons [ 3 ], the latter of which are able to integrate or excise gene cassettes in their structures.…”