Pollutants: do they contribute to an increase in antibiotic resistance genes?

Maintaining resistance plasmids in bacteria generally requires a strong selective pressure such as a high concentration of an antibiotic. But new research by Gullberg et al. suggests that these selective pressures do not need to be strong to be effective; antibiotics and heavy metals at very low levels are sufficient to maintain a multiresistance plasmid. This could have serious implications for how environmental pollution and antibiotic treatment affect development of drug resistance.

Further details have been posted by PCR Pathways

Posted by Tim Sandle