Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 13, 2025

Isolation and Identification of Waterborne Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Molecular Characterization of their Antibiotic Resistance Genes
08:58

Isolation and Identification of Waterborne Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Molecular Characterization of their Antibiotic Resistance Genes

Published on: March 3, 2023

6.6K

Studying the Association between Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Insertion Sequences in Metagenomes: Challenges and

Lucie Galiot1,2, Xavier C Monger1,2, Antony T Vincent1,2

  • 1Département Des Sciences Animales, Faculté Des Sciences de L'agriculture et de L'alimentation, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada.

Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 21, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Insertion sequences (mobile genetic elements) correlate with antibiotic resistance genes in microbiomes. Further research is needed to understand their role in spreading antibiotic resistance.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Genetics
  • Environmental Science

Background:

  • Antibiotic resistance is a significant global health concern.
  • Mobile genetic elements, such as insertion sequences, are implicated in the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs).
  • The precise contribution of insertion sequences to ARG mobility remains under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationships between insertion sequences and ARGs in microbial communities.
  • To explore the potential role of insertion sequences in the mobilization and expression of ARGs.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of two public microbiome datasets.
  • Dataset 1: Mouse model assessing antibiotic effects.
  • Dataset 2: Comparison of cattle microbiomes from conventional and organic farming.

Main Results:

  • Statistically significant correlations were observed between insertion sequences and ARGs in both analyzed datasets.
  • Evidence suggests a link between insertion sequences and antibiotic resistance in different environments.

Conclusions:

  • Insertion sequences are significantly associated with antibiotic resistance genes in microbiomes.
  • Long-read sequencing technologies are recommended for more precise understanding of horizontal gene transfer mechanisms driving antibiotic resistance.
Keywords:
antibiotic resistance genesbacteriabioinformaticsinsertion sequencesmicrobiome

More Related Videos

Screening Foodstuffs for Class 1 Integrons and Gene Cassettes09:37

Screening Foodstuffs for Class 1 Integrons and Gene Cassettes

Published on: June 19, 2015

9.1K
Generating Transposon Insertion Libraries in Gram-Negative Bacteria for High-Throughput Sequencing08:19

Generating Transposon Insertion Libraries in Gram-Negative Bacteria for High-Throughput Sequencing

Published on: July 7, 2020

10.5K

Related Concept Videos

Antibiotic Selection00:57

Antibiotic Selection

Overview
54.9K
Transposons01:24

Transposons

Transposons, or "jumping genes," are small mobile genetic elements (MGEs) that range from 700 to 40,000 base pairs in length. They are found in all organisms and can move within the same chromosome or transfer to different chromosomes. In some cases, transposons can also jump between different host DNA molecules, such as plasmids or viruses, contributing to genetic variability.Barbara McClintock first discovered these mobile genetic elements in the 1940s while studying maize genetics, and she...
87
Development of Antibiotic Resistance01:30

Development of Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern that arises when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the effects of antibiotic treatments. This resistance can be intrinsic, acquired through genetic mutations, or transferred between bacteria via horizontal gene transfer. The development of antibiotic resistance poses significant challenges in treating bacterial infections and necessitates ongoing research to develop new therapeutic strategies.Intrinsic resistance occurs when bacterial...
68
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes03:21

Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.
8.1K
Transduction01:16

Transduction

Among the three main modes of HGT—transformation, conjugation, and transduction—transduction is unique in that it is mediated by bacteriophages, or bacterial viruses.Transduction occurs in two ways. Generalized transduction occurs during the lytic cycle of a bacteriophage infection. In this process, bacteriophages infect bacterial cells, replicate within them, and ultimately cause cell lysis, releasing newly assembled virions. Occasionally, random fragments of the bacterial genome...
62
Modern Molecular Taxonomy01:29

Modern Molecular Taxonomy

Advancements in molecular biology have revolutionized the identification and characterization of bacteria, with multiple methods leveraging DNA sequencing for enhanced precision. As sequencing technologies improve and costs decline, these approaches are increasingly used in clinical, environmental, and evolutionary studies.Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) examines several housekeeping genes, essential chromosomal genes encoding cellular functions, to distinguish strains. Approximately...
74