Quantification of Genes that Encode for Antibiotic-resistance in Soils
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance decreases the effectiveness of antibiotics. With resistant bacteria, antibiotics will no longer stop an infection. With an increase exposure of antibiotics, bacteria become resistant to them. Antibiotic resistant bacteria multiply and their mechanism of resistance spreads. Antibiotics are introduced into the soil environment through animal waste and other source. We want to quantify specific antibiotic-resistant genes in soils and find threshold concentrations of antibiotics that will give rise to genes that encode for antibiotic resistance. Resistance genes to sulfonamides, tetracycline, and beta-lactam antibiotics were detected in experiments with varying conditions. Additionally, sul2 a gene resistant to sulfonamides was quantified. Preliminary results show that sul2 increased over time in samples exposed to sulfamethazine and was not detected in sterile samples with no antibiotic added. The preliminary data shows that the introduction of antibiotics in soils may influence antibiotic-resistance development.
Subject
Antibiotic resistancePCR
qPCR
quantification
antibiotic resistance gene
soil
sulfamethazine
tetracycline
beta-lactam
sul2
tet
bla
Citation
Pedraza, Denise (2023). Quantification of Genes that Encode for Antibiotic-resistance in Soils. Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /196596.