Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.3
4.3
Journals
Antibiotics
Special Issues
The Effects of Heavy Metals and Other Environmental Contaminants on...
share announcement

The Effects of Heavy Metals and Other Environmental Contaminants on Antimicrobial Resistance

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 7716

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Barry R. Palmer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Health Science, College of Health, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Interests: heavy metal resistance; antibiotic resistances; genetics of antimicrobial resistance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ali Heydari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Health Science, College of Health, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Interests: microbial interactions; molecular microbiology; plant pathology and entomology; biochemistry; antibiotic resistance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Submissions are invited for this Special Issue of Antibiotics dedicated to a topic of growing importance: the emergence of microbes resistant to a range of antimicrobial compounds in environments contaminated with heavy metals (more precisely defined as Trace Elements of Environmental Concern, TEoECs) and other environmental contaminants (e.g., organic contaminants, microplastics, pesticides).

The increasing intensification of human activity in both urban and rural environments, and related effects on undeveloped, once pristine areas, have created situations where a range of compounds contaminate diverse ecosystems. This situation may promote selection for resistance to TEoECs and compounds used as antimicrobials, even in the absence of the latter.

This Special Issue welcomes the submission of manuscripts including original research papers, review articles and opinion papers. Presentation of data on the quantification of cross-resistance and co-resistance for TEoECs and antimicrobials in diverse environments including, for example, hospital settings; effluent from healthcare facilities, farms and other agricultural  facilities, industry, and wastewater treatment plants; and land and water receiving discharges from these plants.

Dr. Barry Palmer
Dr. Ali Heydari
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • heavy metal resistance
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • antibiotic resistance
  • trace elements of environmental concern
  • emerging organic contaminants
  • microplastics
  • antibiotic resistance genes 
  • cross-resistance/co-resistance 
  • cross-resistance/co-resistance mechanisms 
  • selection for resistance 
  • environments selecting multi-resistant microbes 
  • in situ and in vitro resistance monitoring and modelling

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 4285 KiB  
Article
Impact of Combined Pollution of Ciprofloxacin and Copper on the Diversity of Archaeal Communities and Antibiotic-Resistance Genes
by Meijuan Chen, Weiying Li, Haibo Teng, Wenxin Hu, Zhiqiang Dong, Dawei Zhang, Tianyi Liu and Quan Zheng
Antibiotics 2024, 13(8), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13080734 - 5 Aug 2024
Viewed by 924
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the response of archaeal communities and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) to ciprofloxacin (CIP, 0.05–40 mg/L) and copper (Cu, 3 mg/L) combined pollution during stress- and post-effect periods in an activated sludge system. With the increase in the CIP concentration, [...] Read more.
This study aimed to explore the response of archaeal communities and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) to ciprofloxacin (CIP, 0.05–40 mg/L) and copper (Cu, 3 mg/L) combined pollution during stress- and post-effect periods in an activated sludge system. With the increase in the CIP concentration, the diversity of archaea decreased, but the richness increased under the stress of 10 mg/L CIP. Under stress and post effects, the change in unknown archaeal community structure was more significant than that of the known archaea. The relative abundance of unknown archaea was significantly reduced with the increase in CIP concentration. Meanwhile, there were certain archaea that belonged to abundant and rare taxa with different resistance and recovery characteristics. Among them, Methanosaeta (49.15–83.66%), Methanoculleus (0.11–0.45%), and Nitrososphaera (0.03–0.36%) were the typical resistant archaea to combined pollution. And the resistance of the abundant taxa to combined pollution was significantly higher than that of the rare taxa. Symbiotic and competitive relationships were observed between the known and the unknown archaea. The interactions of abundant known taxa were mainly symbiotic relationships. While the rare unknown taxa were mainly competitive relationships in the post-effect period. Rare archaea showed an important ecological niche under the stress-effect. Some archaea displayed positive correlation with ARGs and played important roles as potential hosts of ARGs during stress- and post-periods. Methanospirillum, Methanosphaerula, Nitrososphaera and some rare unknown archaea also significantly co-occurred with a large number of ARGs. Overall, this study points out the importance of interactions among known and unknown archaeal communities and ARGs in a wastewater treatment system under the stress of antibiotics and heavy metal combined pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Heavy Metals and Other Environmental Contaminants on Antimicrobial Resistance)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 562 KiB  
Article
Antibiotic Resistance in Metal-Tolerant Microorganisms from Treatment Facilities
by Leonid Perelomov, Olga Sizova, Maria Gertsen, Irina Perelomova, Vyacheslav Arlyapov and Yury Atroshchenko
Antibiotics 2023, 12(12), 1678; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12121678 - 29 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1707
Abstract
The study examines the antibiotic resistance of metal-tolerant bacteria isolated from the wastewater treatment plant of a large city to six antibiotics belonging to the β-lactam antibiotics, aminoglycosides and amphenicols. Resistance of bacteria from sewage sludge multitolerant to heavy metals to 18 antibiotics [...] Read more.
The study examines the antibiotic resistance of metal-tolerant bacteria isolated from the wastewater treatment plant of a large city to six antibiotics belonging to the β-lactam antibiotics, aminoglycosides and amphenicols. Resistance of bacteria from sewage sludge multitolerant to heavy metals to 18 antibiotics of the β-lactam antibiotics, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, diaminopyrimidines, amphenicols and ansamycins was studied also. Out of 10, the metal-tolerant microorganisms isolated from wastewater treatment facilities only the Klebsiella pneumonia strain (tolerant to 3 mM Cu) from the sludge of a secondary settling tank did not show resistance to the studied antibiotics at the concentrations considered. Resistance to the maximum amount of antibiotics was typical for strains Serratia fonticola SS0-1, isolated from fresh sewage sludge and resistant to 5 mmol Cu and 3 mmol Pb, or Stenotrophomonas maltophilia SS0-5, also isolated from fresh sludge and resistant to 3 mmol Zn and Cu. It is possible that bacterial resistance to antibiotics develops not only as a result of the use of antibiotics themselves, but also as a result of environmental pollution with heavy metals, and vice versa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Heavy Metals and Other Environmental Contaminants on Antimicrobial Resistance)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 2523 KiB  
Article
Co-Selection of Bacterial Metal and Antibiotic Resistance in Soil Laboratory Microcosms
by Ali Heydari, Nick D. Kim, Patrick J. Biggs, Jacqui Horswell, Gerty J. H. P. Gielen, Alma Siggins, Matthew D. Taylor, Collette Bromhead and Barry R. Palmer
Antibiotics 2023, 12(4), 772; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12040772 - 18 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2162
Abstract
Accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) in agricultural soil following the application of superphosphate fertilisers seems to induce resistance of soil bacteria to HMs and appears to co-select for resistance to antibiotics (Ab). This study aimed to investigate the selection of co-resistance of soil [...] Read more.
Accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) in agricultural soil following the application of superphosphate fertilisers seems to induce resistance of soil bacteria to HMs and appears to co-select for resistance to antibiotics (Ab). This study aimed to investigate the selection of co-resistance of soil bacteria to HMs and Ab in uncontaminated soil incubated for 6 weeks at 25 °C in laboratory microcosms spiked with ranges of concentrations of cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn) and mercury (Hg). Co-selection of HM and Ab resistance was assessed using plate culture on media with a range of HM and Ab concentrations, and pollution-induced community tolerance (PICT) assays. Bacterial diversity was profiled via terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) assay and 16S rDNA sequencing of genomic DNA isolated from selected microcosms. Based on sequence data, the microbial communities exposed to HMs were found to differ significantly compared to control microcosms with no added HM across a range of taxonomic levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Heavy Metals and Other Environmental Contaminants on Antimicrobial Resistance)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 35517 KiB  
Article
Cytotoxicity and Antibacterial Efficacy of AgCu and AgFe NanoAlloys: A Comparative Study
by Fang Zhou, Elie Kostantin, De-Quan Yang and Edward Sacher
Antibiotics 2022, 11(12), 1737; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11121737 - 1 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2150
Abstract
Although Ag nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely applied in daily life and in biomedical and industrial fields, there is a demand for Ag-based bimetallic nanoalloys (NAs), such as AgCu and AgFe, due to their enhanced antibacterial efficacy and reduced Ag consumption. In this [...] Read more.
Although Ag nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely applied in daily life and in biomedical and industrial fields, there is a demand for Ag-based bimetallic nanoalloys (NAs), such as AgCu and AgFe, due to their enhanced antibacterial efficacy and reduced Ag consumption. In this work, we present a comparison study on the antibacterial efficacy and cytotoxicity rates of Ag NPs and AgCu and AgFe NAs to L929 mouse fibroblast cells using the CCK-8 technique based on the relative cell viability. The concept of the minimum death concentration (MDC) is introduced to estimate the cytotoxicity to the cells. It is found that the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the NPs against E. coli and S. aureus decrease with the addition of both Cu and Fe. There is a strong correlation between the MDC and MIC, implying that the mechanisms of both antibacterial efficacy and cytotoxicity are similar. The enhanced antibacterial efficacy to bacteria and cytotoxicity toward the cell are attributed to Ag+ release. The following order is found for both the MIC and MDC: AgFe < AgCu < Ag NPs. However, there is no cytotoxicity to the L929 cells for AgFe and AgCu NAs at their MIC Ag concentrations against S. aureus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Heavy Metals and Other Environmental Contaminants on Antimicrobial Resistance)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop