Horizontal Gene Transfer Spreads Antibiotic Resistance Among Human Gut Microbiota

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance has become a significant issue in global health. This issue is complex, and a multi-pronged approach is necessary to fix the problem. One important component of this approach is understanding not only how antibiotic resistance develops, but how it could possibly spread not only among harmful bacteria, but among the comensal bacteria living in the human gut microbiome. The reconstruction of the bifidobacteria pan-genome allows for the identification of the bacterial resistome as well as providing a reference to compare to that of other comensal bacteria to see if they contain the same antibiotic resistant genes. Knowing if antibiotic resistance is being shared via horizontal gene transfer can provide more knowledge in the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria, as well as allowing for a more complete understanding of the role of bifidobacteria in antibiotic resistance in the human gut microbiome.