Authors
Federica Gigliucci, Giorgia Barbieri, Marie Veyrunes, Paola Chiani, Manuela Marra, Maria Carollo, Arnold Knijn, Gianfranco Brambilla, Stefano Morabito
Published in
Environmental science and pollution research international. May 29, 2025. Epub May 29, 2025.
Abstract
Biosolids and reclaimed waters are valuable resources for reintroducing organic matter into agricultural soils and reducing the water footprint of intensive agricultural food system. While the circular economy is a sustainable practice, it may introduce vulnerabilities in the food chain, by exposing crops to zoonotic agents and antimicrobial resistance determinants. This option is far from being a speculation and evidence start to accumulate indicating that the risk is tangible. This study provides further evidence that the circular economy practices of reusing biomass and reclaimed waters in agricultural setting may be vectors for the spreading of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) targeting molecules used to treat human bacterial infections. We screened biosolid and water samples for ARGs presence using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. We demonstrated that the identified ARGs are present in live bacterial organisms, harbouring multidrug-resistant gene clusters, confirmed through phenotypic testing and whole-genome sequencing of isolated bacteria. Additionally, we observed that most of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria identified belonged to environmentally widespread species, which were not expected to be exposed to the antimicrobials, suggesting that inter-species transfer of resistance genes.
PMID:
40439791
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 May 2025.
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