Bacteria Subsisting on Antibiotics

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 antibioti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2008-04, Vol.320 (5872), p.100-103
Main Authors: Dantas, Gautam, Sommer, Morten O.A, Oluwasegun, Rantimi D, Church, George M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acid soils
Actinobacteria - drug effects
Actinobacteria - growth & development
Actinobacteria - isolation & purification
Actinobacteria - metabolism
Action of physical and chemical agents on bacteria
Agricultural soils
Anti-Bacterial Agents - metabolism
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Antibiotics
Bacteria
Bacteriology
Bacteroidetes - drug effects
Bacteroidetes - growth & development
Bacteroidetes - isolation & purification
Bacteroidetes - metabolism
Biological and medical sciences
Carbenicillin - metabolism
Ciprofloxacin - metabolism
Drug resistance
Drug Resistance, Bacterial
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Molecular Sequence Data
Pathogens
Penicillin
Penicillins - metabolism
Phylogeny
Proteobacteria - drug effects
Proteobacteria - growth & development
Proteobacteria - isolation & purification
Proteobacteria - metabolism
Soil bacteria
Soil Microbiology
Soil pollution
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1155157