PhD project
Title: LUE – AntibiEAU: Understanding the persistence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance determinants released from an urban wastewater treatment plant in a large-scale surface flow constructed wetland
Project: Antibiotic resistance is one of the major public health threat faces by humankind. WHO and UN have notably recognized that this problem must be considered as a “One Heath” issue concerning human, animal and environment health, and that forthcoming studies and proposed mitigation strategies must take this interconnection aspect into account. Indeed, the use and misuse of antibiotics lead to the release of antibiotic resistance genes, and antibiotic residues in the environments, especially aquatic ones. If antibiotic resistant bacteria originating from human or animal microbial communities are not likely to persist in the environment, they can disseminate their antibiotic resistance genes by horizontal gene transfer to autochthonous bacteria well fitted to this environmental niche. These transfers are facilitated by the carriage of many antibiotic resistance genes by some DNA fragments, the so-called mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids, integrons or transposons. Human populations or animals can thereafter be exposed to these newly resistant environmental bacteria by crop irrigation, animal watering or whitewater sports, drawing an enrichment vicious circle of antibiotic resistance determinants in bacterial communities in all the different compartments. Nevertheless, the involved microbial actors and physical/chemical factors favoring the persistence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance determinants of anthropogenic origin in aquatic environments remain poorly known.
Contact: Additional information can be requested if needed from Dr. Xavier Bellanger (Tel.: +33 (0)3 72 74 72 45, Email: xavier.bellanger@univ-lorraine.fr) or from Dr. Nouceiba Adouani (Tel.: +33 (0)3 72 74 37 39, Email: nouceiba.adouani@univ-lorraine.fr)
