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Imprint
Effects of irrigation water quality and soil type on the soil and plant associated microbiome, abundance, diversity and transferability of antibiotic resistance genes in Gram-negative bacteria
Project
Project code: JKI-EP-08-2368 SM59/24- AOBJ:678675
Contract period: 01.10.2021
- 30.09.2025
Purpose of research: Experimental development
The reuse of wastewater for irrigation in agriculture is an efficient way of saving water and increasing food production for a growing population under conditions of climate change. Investments in infrastructure cause a shift from irrigation with untreated wastewater to irrigation with treated wastewater in many countries. SP 5 of the proposed research unit will contribute to testing the hypotheses that i) environmental concentrations of pollutants released from soil and taken up by plants are high enough to select antibiotic resistance and trigger horizontal gene transfer in soils and plants and ii) the soil type modulates the release of pollutants and the associated selection of antibiotic resistance. The effect of the addition of treated or untreated wastewater to Leptosols, Phaeozems and Vertisols, that have been irrigated with untreated wastewater for >80 years, on the microbial community composition and the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) as well as mobile genetic elements (MGEs) associated with Gram-negative bacteria will be tested in a joint incubation and batch experiment based on total community DNA. For a subset of soil samples horizontal gene transfer (HGT) rates among Gram-negative bacteria will be determined. Isolated Enterobacteria (SP 6) will be screened for the presence of transferable plasmids. The mobilization of ARGs to InCP-1 plasmids due to selection by antibiotics and disinfectants added with wastewater and released from soil will be tested in a satellite experiment.
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Protection
- Soil science
- Resource management
Framework programme
Funding programme
Excutive institution
Institute for Epidemiology and Pathogen Diagnostics (JKI-EP)
