Freshwater snail faecal metagenomes reveal environmental reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance genes across two continents.

ABSTRACT: The transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) from environmental microbes to pathogens is a critical but underexplored One Health driver of antimicrobial resistance. Here, we evaluate freshwater snails, which are geographically widespread aquatic invertebrates, as environmental reservoirs of ARGs. We collected faeces from eight gastropod genera at 15 freshwater locations across Malawi, Uganda, Zanzibar and the UK and conducted the first freshwater snail faecal metagenomic study. We detected putative ARGs predicted to confer resistance to 13 antibiotic classes, including carbapenems. All ARGs that could be assembled into metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were found within Proteobacteria, which dominated the faecal microbiomes and were strongly associated with the total ARG

SUBMITTER: O'Ferrall AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12367435 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature