Occurrence of clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance genes, including mcr-3 and mcr-7.1, in soil and water from a recreation club

ABSTRACT

We researched clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in environmental samples from a recreation club in Brazil. A total of 172 amplicons (105 from soil and 67 from water) of 26 ARGs (20 among the soil and water samples; four only in soil samples; two only in water samples) were detected. Nine MGEs were detected, including plasmids and class 1 integron. The absolute abundance of the mcr-3 gene ranged from 1.12 × 10² to 1.81 × 10³ copies/mL⁻¹ in water samples. The rapid spread of mcr-like genes in several sources has generated a huge concern to public health. Accordingly, understanding of antimicrobial resistance, carry out surveillance studies may contribute to tackle antimicrobial resistance. As the environmental samples were collected from a popular recreation club in Brazil, this study points out to the risk and exposure to clinically relevant ARGs, especially to mcr-3 and mcr-7.1 genes.

KEYWORDS:

• Mcr-3
• mcr-7.1
• β-lactamases
• soil
• water

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) [grant no. 2018/01890-3] and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) [grant no. 88882.180855/2018-01, 88882.180868/2018-01, 88887.314388/2019-00, and Finance code 001] for fellowships.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Not required.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [grant number 2018/19539-0].