噬菌体编码的抗生素抗性基因研究进展

噬菌体作为地球上丰度最高的生物体,对于全球生态系统的微生物群落组成与动态,生物地球化学循环和细菌进化等都具有重要作用,但噬菌体对抗生素抗性的贡献还所知甚少.通过宏基因组测序和定量PCR等技术,发现了海洋,河流,土壤,动物肠道等环境的噬菌体基因组中存在多种耐药基因(antibiotic resistance genes,ARGs).因此,噬菌体及其介导的转导作用可能对ARGs的富集扩散发挥着重要作用.本文综述了不同环境介质的噬菌体基因组中ARGs的分布特征以及噬菌体介导的ARGs水平转移的研究进展,同时展望了为阐明噬菌体对抗生素抗性贡献需要解决的科学问题.本文将为了解噬菌体在ARGs传播扩散中的作用以及扩展对可移动抗性组的认知奠定基础.

Recent advances on antibiotic resistance genes encoded by bacteriophages

Bacteriophages (phages), the most abundant biological entities on earth, have a great effect on the composition and diversity of microbial community, biogeochemical cycle of global ecosystem and bacterial evolution. However, the contribution of bacteriophages to antibiotic resistome is still poorly understood. Several researches found that there were a variety of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in phage genomes at different environmental sites such as ocean, river, soil and faeces by metagenomics sequencing and quantitative PCR technology. Therefore, bacteriophage and phages-mediated transduction may play an important role in the enrichment and spread of ARGs. Here, the distribution characteristics of ARGs in phage genomes at different environmental settings and the research progress of horizontal transfer of ARGs mediated by phage were reviewed. Meanwhile, the unsolved scientific problems were put forward. This article would lay a foundation for understanding the role of phages in the spread of ARGs and expanding the knowledge about mobile resistome.