RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Szczepanowski, Rafael A1 Linke, Burkhard A1 Krahn, Irene A1 Gartemann, Karl-Heinz A1 Gützkow, Tim A1 Eichler, Wolfgang A1 Pühler, Alfred A1 Schlüter, AndreasYR 2009 T1 Detection of 140 clinically relevant antibiotic-resistance genes in the plasmid metagenome of wastewater treatment plant bacteria showing reduced susceptibility to selected antibiotics JF Microbiology, VO 155 IS 7 SP 2306 OP 2319 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.028233-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB To detect plasmid-borne antibiotic-resistance genes in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) bacteria, 192 resistance-gene-specific PCR primer pairs were designed and synthesized. Subsequent PCR analyses on total plasmid DNA preparations obtained from bacteria of activated sludge or the WWTP's final effluents led to the identification of, respectively, 140 and 123 different resistance-gene-specific amplicons. The genes detected included aminoglycoside, β-lactam, chloramphenicol, fluoroquinolone, macrolide, rifampicin, tetracycline, trimethoprim and sulfonamide resistance genes as well as multidrug efflux and small multidrug resistance genes. Some of these genes were only recently described from clinical isolates, demonstrating genetic exchange between clinical and WWTP bacteria. Sequencing of selected resistance-gene-specific amplicons confirmed their identity or revealed that the amplicon nucleotide sequence is very similar to a gene closely related to the reference gene used for primer design. These results demonstrate that WWTP bacteria are a reservoir for various resistance genes. Moreover, detection of about 64 % of the 192 reference resistance genes in bacteria obtained from the WWTP's final effluents indicates that these resistance determinants might be further disseminated in habitats downstream of the sewage plant., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.028233-0