Antibiotics promote aggregation within aquatic bacterial communities
Open accessAbstract
The release of antibiotics (AB) into the environment poses several threats for human health due to potential development of AB-resistant natural bacteria. Even though the use of low-dose antibiotics has been promoted in health care and farming, significant amounts of AB are observed in aquatic environments. Knowledge on the impact of AB on natural bacterial communities is missing both in terms of spread and evolution of resistance mechanisms, and of modifications of community composition and productivity. New approaches are required to study the response of microbial communities rather than individual resistance genes. In this study a chemostat-based experiment with 4 coexisting bacterial strains has been performed to mimicking the response of a freshwater bacterial community to the presence of antibiotics in low and high doses. Bacterial abundance rapidly decreased by 75% in the presence of AB, independently of their concentration, and remained constant until the end of the experiment. The bacterial community was mainly dominated by Aeromonas hydrophila and Brevundimonas intermedia while the other two strains, Micrococcus luteus and Rhodococcus sp. never exceed 10%. Interestingly, the bacterial strains, which were isolated at the end of the experiment, were not AB-resistant, while reassembled communities composed of the 4 strains, isolated from treatments under AB stress, significantly raised their performance (growth rate, abundance) in the presence of AB compared to the communities reassembled with strains isolated from the treatment without AB. By investigating the phenotypic adaptations of the communities subjected to the different treatments, we found that the presence of AB significantly increased co-aggregation by 5-6 fold. These results represent the first observation of co-aggregation as a successful strategy of AB resistance based on phenotype in aquatic bacterial communities, and can represent a fundamental step in the understanding of the effects of AB in aquatic ecosystems.
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Suspended bacterial aggregates can offer some of the same benefits and protection as biofilm, and the switch from planktonic to aggregated growth is triggered under conditions of environmental stress, be it toxins, antibiotics, predation, or lack of nutrients.
“Suspended bacterial aggregates can offer some of the same benefits and protection as biofilm; it is therefore no surprise that the switch from planktonic to aggregated growth is triggered under conditions of environmental stress, be it toxins, antibiotics, predation, or lack of nutrients [3],[103],[104].”
From Bacterial autoaggregation (2018) · cites this paper as [3]
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the model aquatic bacterial community, upon antibiotic exposure, the community switched rapidly from planktonic lifestyle to forming microcolonies and larger co-aggregates, and bacteria maintained viability in the aggregative state.
“The bacterial community switched rapidly from a planktonic lifestyle to forming microcolonies as well as larger co-aggregates in the presence of antibiotics, and the bacteria were able to maintain their viability in the aggregative state.”
From Bacterial autoaggregation (2018) · cites this paper as [3]
The Results (Phenotypical distribution) and Discussion report a rapid increase in microcolonies and larger co-aggregates under antibiotic exposure. The paper does not establish that bacteria maintained viability specifically while aggregated; the Discussion notes that its optical-density measurements could not distinguish active from inactive cells. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAggregation influences pathogenesis by increasing tolerance against antimicrobial agents.
“Aggregation has also been shown to influence pathogenesis by increasing tolerance against antimicrobial agents [3],[11],[114], elevating invasion frequency as well as invasion efficiency of host cells [42], impeding phagocytosis by cells of the host immune system [14], or increasing survival within phagosomes [13].”
From Bacterial autoaggregation (2018) · cites this paper as [3]
The Discussion reports that multispecies co-aggregation gave aquatic bacterial communities an advantage against antimicrobial action. The paper does not test pathogenesis or show that this increased tolerance influences infection in a host. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUpon exposure to antibiotics, a decrease in bacterial fitness was observed accompanied by a reduction in bacterial cell numbers by ∼75% in a model aquatic bacterial community.
“Upon exposure to antibiotics, a decrease in bacterial fitness was observed accompanied by a reduction in bacterial cell numbers by ∼75% [3].”
From Bacterial autoaggregation (2018) · cites this paper as [3]
Bacteria in these aggregates were surrounded by a self-synthesized exopolymeric matrix, creating a microenvironment where general resistance to antibiotics increased.
“Bacteria organized in these aggregates were surrounded by a self-synthesized exopolymeric matrix, thus creating a microenvironment where, through conspecific and interspecific interactions, general resistance to antibiotics increased [3].”
From Bacterial autoaggregation (2018) · cites this paper as [3]
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Cites
Occurrence of Antibiotics in the Aquatic Environment
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Planktonic Aggregates of Staphylococcus aureus Protect against Common Antibiotics
Haaber, J., Cohn, M. T., Frees, D., Andersen, T. J., & Ingmer, H. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041075 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Trunk, T., Bacterial Cell Surface Group, S. F. G. A. E. B., S. Khalil, H., & C. Leo, J. (2018) · AIMS Microbiology · doi:10.3934/microbiol.2018.1.140 · Cited by 444 · see citing works
“Aggregation has also been shown to influence pathogenesis by increasing tolerance against antimicrobial agents [3,11,114], elevating invasion frequency as well as invasion efficiency of host cells [42], impeding phagocytosis by cells of the host immune system [14], or increasing survival within phagosomes [13].”
BackgroundInfluentialStress response in rhodococcus strains
Pátek, M., Grulich, M., & Nešvera, J. (2021) · Biotechnology Advances · doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107698 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Fayed, B., Jayakumar, M. N., & Soliman, S. S. M. (2021) · Medical Mycology · doi:10.1093/mmy/myab059 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
- Authors
- Corno, G., Coci, M., Giardina, M., Plechuk, S., Campanile, F., & Stefani, S.
- Affiliations
- Institute of Ecosystem Study (IT)
- University of Catania (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Coci, Manuela
- Venue
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-07-01
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 297-297
- ISSN
- 1664-302X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4077313
- OpenAlex
- W2119530622
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Microbiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- CNR ExploRA (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Microbiology (medical) › Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Keywords
- antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, aquatic bacterial communities, freshwater bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila, community reassembly, chemostat, low-dose antibiotics, phenotypic adaptation, bacterial abundance
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