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- Title
Persistence of antibiotic resistance and plasmid-associated genes in soil following application of sewage sludge and abundance on vegetables at harvest.
- Authors
Rahube, Teddie O.; Marti, Romain; Scott, Andrew; Tien, Yuan-Ching; Murray, Roger; Sabourin, Lyne; Duenk, Peter; Lapen, David R.; Topp, Edward
- Abstract
Sewage sludge recovered from wastewater treatment plants contains antibiotic residues and is rich in antibiotic resistance genes, selected for and enriched in the digestive tracts of human using antibiotics. The use of sewage sludge as a crop fertilizer constitutes a potential route of human exposure to antibiotic resistance genes through consumption of contaminated crops. Several gene targets associated with antibiotic resistance ( catA1, catB3, ereA, ereB, erm(B), str(A), str(B), qnrD, sul1, and mphA), mobile genetic elements ( int1, mobA, IncW repA, IncP1 groups -α, -β, -δ, -γ, -ε), and bacterial 16S rRNA ( rrnS) were quantified by qPCR from soil and vegetable samples obtained from unamended and sludge-amended plots at an experimental field in London, Ontario. The qPCR data reveals an increase in abundance of gene targets in the soil and vegetables samples, indicating that there is potential for additional crop exposure to antibiotic resistance genes carried within sewage sludge following field application. It is therefore advisable to allow an appropriate delay period before harvesting of vegetables for human consumption.
- Subjects
SOILS; PLASMID genetics; VEGETABLE breeding; PHYSIOLOGICAL effects of antibiotics; FOOD
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 2016, Vol 62, Issue 7, p600
- ISSN
0008-4166
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1139/cjm-2016-0034