Newer, stronger antibiotics reshape manure bacteria more drastically
Davidovich C, Blum SE, Cytryn E
Soil Health
If your garden soil or compost pile ever includes manure from farm animals, the specific antibiotics those animals received can leave behind very different populations of drug-resistant bacteria lurking in that organic matter.
Researchers grew gut-like bacterial communities from chicken manure in the lab and dosed them with three different antibiotics: an old one, a stronger modern one, and a last-resort emergency drug. The stronger drugs caused much bigger changes in which bacteria thrived and which resistance genes got passed around, especially genes carried on tiny mobile DNA bits called plasmids. This matters because manure often ends up in compost and farm fields, carrying its resistant bacteria with it.
Key Findings
Extended-spectrum (cefotaxime) and last-resort (meropenem) antibiotics caused more pronounced shifts in microbial diversity, resistance genes, and mobile DNA elements than the older antibiotic ampicillin.
Enteric bacteria and resistant coliforms responded differently to each antibiotic depending on its specific spectrum of activity.
Cefotaxime and meropenem had distinct effects on plasmids carrying multiple resistance genes, showing that drug choice shapes the type of resistance spread, not just whether resistance occurs.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists tested how three generations of antibiotics affect bacteria grown from poultry manure, finding that newer, more powerful drugs cause bigger shifts in which bacteria survive and which resistance genes spread than older antibiotics do.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Differential impacts of early, extended-spectrum, and last-resort β-lactams on manure-derived microbiomes and resistomes in an in vitro model.
Understanding the environmental dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is crucial for mitigating its spread and reducing the clinical burden of resistant infections. In a previous study, w...
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