Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Found In Groundwater

by Jim Barlow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

U.S. farmers for more than 50 years have used tetracycline and other antibiotics to enhance the growth of livestock. In humans, an overuse of antibiotics is blamed for a growing resistance to many antibiotics, and agricultural use has been suspected in the spread of resistance genes. The European Union is phasing out such agricultural use; Sweden banned it in the 1980s.

Researchers from the University of Illinois and Illinois State Geological Survey used a DNA-amplification technique called PCR to analyze samples from lagoons, wells and groundwater on and near two Illinois facilities, said Rustam I. Aminov, a visiting professor of animal sciences at the UI. Aminov had reported his creation of primers for use with PCR to detect resistance genes in the environment earlier this year in the same journal. In the earlier paper, he also reported the detection of resistance genes in livestock intestines and feces and in commercial feed.

"The use of tetracycline on farms is pushing the evolution of these genes," he said. "We found tetracycline resistance genes in soil and groundwater bacteria. The genes are transferred to this type of bacteria, where they can survive and travel long distances in the environment."

The researchers were able to identify the trail taken by the resistance genes. The DNA fingerprints in the samples matched the resistance genes previously identified in livestock and feed. "These genes were found to be predominant in the gastrointestinal tracts of pigs and steers," the authors wrote.

Once resistance genes make their way into drinking water, they will find their way into the guts of the people, animals and wildlife that drink it, Aminov said. "We are potentially passing on resistance in a continuous gene cycle in the environment," he said. Their research appeared in the April issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.