Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYGIENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Volume 222, Issue 1, Pages 89-100Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2018.08.009
Keywords
Plastic; Polystyrene; Plastisphere; Antibiotic resistance; Vector; Antarctica
Funding
- Project of Italian National Antartic Program (PNRA) Plastic in Antartic Environment (PLANET) [PNRA 1400090]
- PNRA Project Microbial colonization of benthic ANTarctic environments: response of microbial abundances, diversity, activities and larval settlement to natural or anthropogenic disturbances and search for secondary metabolites (ANT-BIOFILM) [PNRA 16_00105]
- PNRA project Polymeric NANOparticles in tje marine environment and in Antarctic organisms (nanoPANTA) [PNRA 1600075]
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The retrieval of a polystyrene macro-plastic piece stranded on the shores in King George Island (South Shetlands, Antarctica) gave the opportunity to explore the associated bacterial flora. A total of 27 bacterial isolates were identified by molecular 16s rRNA gene sequencing and 7 strains were selected and screened for their ability to produce biofilm and antibiotic susceptibility profiles. All the bacterial isolates were able to produce biofilm. The Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test to 34 antibiotics showed multiple antibiotic resistances against the molecules cefuroxime and cefazolin (belonging to cephalosporins), cinoxacin (belonging to quinolones) and ampicillin, amoxicillin + clavulanic acid, carbenicillin and mezlocillin (belonging to beta-lactams). The obtained results suggest that plastics can serve as vectors for the spread of multiple resistances to antibiotics across Antarctic marine environments and underline the relevance of future studies on this topic.
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