Unearthing Antibiotic Resistance Associated with Disturbance-Induced Permafrost Thaw in Interior Alaska.

ABSTRACT: Monitoring antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across ecological niches is critical for assessing the impacts distinct microbial communities have on the global spread of resistance. In permafrost-associated soils, climate and human driven disturbances augment near-surface thaw shifting the predominant bacteria that shape the resistome in overlying active layer soils. This thaw is of concern in Alaska, because 85% of land is underlain by permafrost, making soils especially vulnerable to disturbances. The goal of this study is to assess how soil disturbance, and the subsequent shift in community composition, will affect the types, abundance, and mobility of ARGs that compose the active layer resistome. We address this goal through the following aims: (1) assess resistance phenotypes through a

SUBMITTER: Haan TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7825290 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature