Prevalence and dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in pioneer and developing Arctic soils

作者：Shamik Roy, Robin A. Dawson, James A. Bradley, Marcela Hernández · 发表于：BMC Microbiology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12866-025-03745-7 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts、Gut microbiota and health、Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in soil is an ancient phenomenon with widespread spatial presence in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the natural processes shaping the temporal dissemination of AMR in soils are not well understood. We aimed to determine whether, how, and why AMR varies with soil age in recently deglaciated pioneer and developing Arctic soils using a space-for-time approach. Specifically, we assess how the magnitude and spread of AMR changes with soil development stages, including antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). We showed that ARGs, MGEs, and ARB are present, and exhibit a non-uniform distribution in the developing soils. Their abundance generally increases with soil age but at different rates overall and across different glacier forefields. Our analyses suggest a strong positive relationship between soil age and ARGs and ARB, which we attribute to increased competition between microbes in older soils. We also observed a strong negative relationship between soil age and ARG diversity mediated by soil organic matter - suggesting facilitation due to the alleviation of nutrient limitation. These contrasting results suggest that both competition and facilitation can regulate AMR spread through time in the Arctic, but competition might be the stronger determinant of AMR spread.