The role of urban recreational reservoirs in antibiotic resistance spread

03 03 2025

On Monday 10th of March at 2 pm in room 102B, Agata Bluszcz from the Department of Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology will give a seminar entitled “The role of urban recreational reservoirs in antibiotic resistance spread”.

Abstract:

Antibiotic resistance is a critical public health issue that compromises the effectiveness of antimicrobial treatments and is associated with higher mortality rates. In alignment with the One Health concept, growing attention is being paid to the role of the environment — especially surface waters — as a critical factor in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Urban recreational reservoirs attract numerous tourists and local residents, particularly in the summer, which results in increased exploitation of these water bodies and an influx of chemical and biological pollutants, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In contact with local microorganisms, these bacteria can (potentially) transfer their resistance genes via mobile genetic elements and horizontal gene transfer, leading to further dissemination of antibiotic resistance. The scale of this phenomenon and the impact of water bodies used for recreational purposes—especially in Poland—remain not entirely understood.

As part of the project, we will determine the actual diversity of resistance genes and mobile genetic elements, particularly plasmids that can transfer them, in selected urban recreational reservoirs in Poland, by employing a diverse set of molecular techniques, including metagenomics and qPCR, to facilitate both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the identified genes. The findings will then be integrated with physicochemical analyses and data regarding overall water body usage. Subsequently, experiments will be conducted within closed systems – microcosms – that simulate natural lake conditions, to determine whether, and to what degree, horizontal transfer of resistance plasmids occurs from bacteria belonging to pathogenic groups (ESKAPEE) to environmental bacteria. These experiments will allow us to determine whether, and to what extent, horizontal transfer of resistance plasmids occurs from bacteria from groups considered pathogenic (ESKAPEE) to environmental bacteria. This research will provide insight into the process of bioaccumulation of resistance genes and mobile genetic elements originating from allochthonous strains by strains naturally present in the environment.

The above-mentioned studies are realized in the frame of the SONATA 18 project No. 2022/47/D/NZ9/02213 funded by the National Science Centre (Poland).