The Perfect Condition for the Rising of Superbugs: Person-to-Person Contact and Antibiotic Use Are the Key Factors Responsible for the Positive Correlation between Antibiotic Resistance Gene Diversity and Virulence Gene Diversity in Human Metagenomes

Antibiotics

Joël Pothier¹  Teresa Nogueira²  JoãoS. Rebelo²  Francisco Dionisio²  CéliaP. F. Domingues²  Francisca Monteiro² 

[1] Atelier de Bioinformatique, ISYEB, UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, 45 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France;cE3c—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal;

关键词: antibiotic resistance;    virulence;    microbiome;    metagenomics;    human gut;    computer simulation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/antibiotics10050605

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Human metagenomes with a high diversity of virulence genes tend to have a high diversity of antibiotic-resistance genes and vice-versa. To understand this positive correlation, we simulated the transfer of these genes and bacterial pathogens in a community of interacting people that take antibiotics when infected by pathogens. Simulations show that people with higher diversity of virulence and resistance genes took antibiotics long ago, not recently. On the other extreme, we find people with low diversity of both gene types because they took antibiotics recently—while antibiotics select specific resistance genes, they also decrease gene diversity by eliminating bacteria. In general, the diversity of virulence and resistance genes becomes positively correlated whenever the transmission probability between people is higher than the probability of losing resistance genes. The positive correlation holds even under changes of several variables, such as the relative or total diversity of virulence and resistance genes, the contamination probability between individuals, the loss rate of resistance genes, or the social network type. Because the loss rate of resistance genes may be shallow, we conclude that the transmission between people and antibiotic usage are the leading causes for the positive correlation between virulence and antibiotic-resistance genes.

【 授权许可】

Unknown