Oxytetracycline reduces the diversity of tetracycline-resistance genes in the Galleria mellonella gut microbiome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Clinically-relevant multidrug resistance is sometimes present in bacteria not exposed to human-made antibiotics, in environments without extreme selective pressures, such as the insect gut. The use of antibiotics on naïve microbiomes often leads to decreased microbe diversity and increased antibiotic resistance.

Results

Here we investigate the impact of antibiotics on the insect gut microbiome by identifying tetracycline-resistance genes in the gut bacteria of greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) larvae, feeding on artificial food containing oxytetracycline. We determined that G. mellonella can be raised on artificial food for over five generations and that the insects tolerate low doses of antibiotics in their diets, but doses of oxytetracycline higher than sub

SUBMITTER: Ignasiak K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6310997 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature