Antibiotic resistance genes and class 1 integron in the environment: research progress

Abstract:

As a new type of pollutant, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) come from complicated sources and distribute widely in different habitats to pose a great potential risk to ecological environment and human health. Meanwhile, class 1 integron plays an important role in ARGs horizontal transfer among environmental bacteria and turns them into antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB). The abundance of intI1 and ARGs in the environment shows a significant positive-correlation, therefore Int I might be used as a molecular marker to indicate the mechanism of ARGs transfer and transformation in the environment and reflect the impact of human activities. In this paper, we introduce the sources and distribution of ARGs and Int I in the environment, review the dissemination mechanisms of ARGs via Int I and related research methods, and predict the future research trends based on the current research progress.

Key words:antibiotic resistance genes, class 1 integron, gene cassette, horizontal gene transfer, dissemination