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Title: MOLECULAR ECOLOGY OF TETRACYCLINE RESISTANCE

Author
item MACKIE, RODERICK - UNIV OF ILLINOIS
item AMINOV, RUSTAM - UNIV OF ILLINOIS
item GARRIGUES-JEANJEA, NATALIE - UNIV OF ILLINOIS
item Chee Sanford, Joanne

Submitted to: Microbial Ecology International Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/2/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Antibiotic resistance research is mostly confined to the study of clinical bacterial isolates. This is extremely limited since only a small proportion of isolates can be cultivated and the antibiotic resistance profile is based on phenotypic expression. Therefore, development of genotyping tools for detection and tracking of antibiotic resistance genes in commensal and pathogenic bacteria, as well as in the environment is essential for studying ecology of antibiotic resistance. Tetracyclines are an attractive model for studying antibiotic resistance. They are widely used in human and veterinary medicine, as growth promoters in the animal industry, as well as for prophylaxis in plant agriculture and aquaculture. As a model we have used tetracycline resistance genes encoding the ribosomal protection mechanism (RPP). Phylogenetic analysis revealed the monophyletic origin of these genes which allowed design and validation of sets of PCR primers for RPP genes in total DNA of swine fecal and rumen samples, feed components as well as in fecal streptococcal isolates. The primers were also used in PCR-DGGE studies to demonstrate overall diversity and similarity of RPP genes in different animal production systems.