Metals are overlooked in the evolution of antibiotic resistance

Yi Zhao, Rui Xu, Siobhan F. Cox, Min Qiao, Huaming Guo

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Soil Ecology Letters ›› 2024, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (4) : 240244. DOI: 10.1007/s42832-024-0244-4
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Metals are overlooked in the evolution of antibiotic resistance

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Highlights

● Metals are increasingly important risk factors for the evolution of antibiotic resistance in environments.

Abstract

The rapid development of antibiotic resistance is occurring at a global scale. We therefore stride into the post-antibiotic era and have to battle antibiotic resistance in the Anthropocene. Metals are widely used and their pollution is widespread worldwide. More importantly, metal-induced co-selection greatly expands the environmental resistomes and increases the health risk of antibiotic resistance in environments. Here, we reviewed the metal-induced co-selection and their increasingly important roles in the development of antibiotic resistance. In particular, we highlight the metal-rich environments that maintain reservoirs for high-risk antibiotic resistance genes with horizontally transferable potentials. We also call for considerations and further investigations of other co-selective agents and the efficacy of metal-based interventions to better manage and combat the global antibiotic resistance crisis within the One Health framework.

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Keywords

antibiotic resistance / metals / co-selection / mobile genetic elements / One Health

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Yi Zhao, Rui Xu, Siobhan F. Cox, Min Qiao, Huaming Guo. Metals are overlooked in the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Soil Ecology Letters, 2024, 6(4): 240244 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-024-0244-4

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Acknowledgments

We thank Yong-Guan Zhu and Kristian K. Brandt for their feedback and advice on this work. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41825017, 42377392, and 42107407) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 265QZ2022006).

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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