Microbiome & Microbiology Review

Scientists have found that a gene that has been previously identified in many animals and their associated microbes can enable resistance to antimicrobial drugs. The resistance gene encodes for an enzyme called EstT, which can deactivate antibiotic drugs known as macrolides. The enzyme can disrupt the chemical ring structure of these antibiotics through hydrolysis. When the ring is broken or opened with water, the antibiotic loses both its active shape, and its target affinity, explained study leader Dr. Tony Ruzzini PhD, an assistant professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) of the University of Saskatchewan. The findings have been reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This gene can take macrolide antibiotics out of commission, and illnesses can no longer be treated effectively. Macrolides such as tylosin, tilmicosin and tildipirosin are often used to treat cattle with bovine respiratory disease or liver abscesses, and may also be used to treat other diseases in livestock and companion animals.

In this study, the researchers analyzed genes that were found within microbes that were living in watering bowls at a beef cattle feedlot in western Canada. The investigators isolated the microbes that were in the water, and compared the genes in the microbes to databases of antimicrobial resistance genes.

A bacterium called Sphingobacterium faecium WB1 was found to carry the EstT gene, which was contained within a cluster of three antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). It was also near plasmids and retrotransposons, suggesting it can move easily from one microbe to another. EstT is commonly found in microbes in the human microbiome too.

“This gene, even though we found it in an environmental organism, it is also present in pathogens that are responsible for causing bovine respiratory disease,” noted Ruzzini.

“Our finding adds to the considerable database of ARGs, which can be crossmatched to a bacteria’s DNA to determine if the bacterium has the potential to be resistant to a particular antimicrobial,” said first study author Dr. Poonam Dhindwal PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at WCVM.

The researchers are continuing to study EstT to learn more about how it works.

“As [antimicrobial resistance] surveillance systems rely more on molecular tools for detection, our knowledge of this specific gene and its integration into those systems will help to better inform antimicrobial use,” said Ruzzini.

Sources: University of Saskatchewan, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)