RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Ramsay, Kay A. A1 Wardell, Samuel J. T. A1 Patrick, Wayne M. A1 Brockway, Ben A1 Reid, David W. A1 Winstanley, Craig A1 Bell, Scott C. A1 Lamont, Iain L.YR 2019 T1 Genomic and phenotypic comparison of environmental and patient-derived isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa suggest that antimicrobial resistance is rare within the environment JF Journal of Medical Microbiology, VO 68 IS 11 SP 1591 OP 1595 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.001085 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1473-5644, AB Patient-derived isolates of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa are frequently resistant to antibiotics due to the presence of sequence variants in resistance-associated genes. However, the frequency of antibiotic resistance and of resistance-associated sequence variants in environmental isolates of P. aeruginosa has not been well studied. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (ciprofloxacin, ceftazidime, meropenem, tobramycin) of environmental (n=50) and cystic fibrosis (n=42) P. aeruginosa isolates was carried out. Following whole genome sequencing of all isolates, 25 resistance-associated genes were analysed for the presence of likely function-altering sequence variants. Environmental isolates were susceptible to all antibiotics with one exception, whereas patient-derived isolates had significant frequencies of resistance to each antibiotic and a greater number of likely resistance-associated genetic variants. These findings indicate that the natural environment does not act as a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa, supporting a model in which antibiotic susceptible environmental bacteria infect patients and develop resistance during infection., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001085