Investigating the Role of Genetically Modified Crop Transgenes in Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment

1438612调查转基因作物在环境中抗生素耐药性中的作用2013年，美国大约90%的玉米作物是转基因的。作为转基因过程的一部分，包括抗生素抗性基因在内的可选择标记基因被插入到转基因作物中。量化这些基因的命运是很重要的，特别是在废水、污水、污泥(生物固体)的背景下。生物固体在土地上的应用使得研究这些转基因作物的命运变得至关重要。产生的数据将对工业以及控制国内和国际转基因作物未来的立法者有用。该项目的总体目标是确定转基因作物是否是抗生素耐药性基因的重要来源。我们假设转基因作物是细菌抗药性发展的一个重要因素，主要是因为相对于自然产生的抗药性质粒，转基因作物质粒的大小更小。这一假设将在三项任务中得到验证：1)转基因玉米和大豆将在各种废水处理设施中进行量化。2)在模拟废水处理和生物固体土地应用活动中，来自转基因玉米和大豆作物中使用的质粒源的抗生素抗性基因的持久性将与自然产生的质粒进行比较。3)比较小质粒(代表转基因作物质粒)和大质粒(代表携带抗生素抗性基因的自然产生的质粒)之间的抗药性基因水平转移速率。本研究的预期结果包括确定：1)转基因作物是否是环境中抗生素抗性基因的重要贡献者；2)生物固体土地利用促进了转基因作物相关抗生素抗性基因的增殖。研究工作计划的成功将通过我们对转基因作物衍生的抗生素耐药性基因进行量化的能力来衡量，并确定它们在全球抗生素耐药性发展中的作用。该项目的成功成果将有助于更好地理解利用抗生素抗性基因作为转基因作物工程中可选择的标记基因的长期影响。

1438612GaunschInvestigating the Role of Genetically Modified Crop Transgenes in Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment In 2013, approximately 90 % of the US corn crop was genetically modified. As part of the genetic modification process, selectable marker genes including antibiotic resistance genes are inserted into genetically modified crops. The fate of these genes is important to quantify, especially in the context of wastewater sewage sludge (biosolids). The land application of biosolids makes it critical that the fate of these genetically modified crop transgenes be investigated. The data generated will be useful to industry as well as legislators who control the future of genetically modified crops both domestically and internationally. The overall goal of this project is to determine if genetically modified crops are a significant source of antibiotic resistance genes. We hypothesize that genetically modified crop transgenes are an important contributor to bacterial antibiotic resistance development mainly because of the smaller size of the genetically modified crop plasmids relative to naturally occurring antibiotic resistant plasmids. This hypothesis will be tested in three tasks; 1) Genetically modified corn and soybean transgenes will be quantified in various wastewater treatment facilities. 2) The persistence of antibiotic resistance genes originating from plasmids used in genetically modified corn and soybean crops will be compared to naturally occurring plasmids during a simulated wastewater treatment and biosolids land application event. 3) Antibiotic resistance genes horizontal transfer rates will be compared between small plasmids (representative of genetically modified crop plasmids) and large plasmids (representative of naturally occurring plasmids carrying antibiotic resistance genes). The expected results from this research consist of identifying whether: 1) genetically modified crops are an important contributor of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment and; 2) biosolids land application promotes the proliferation of genetically modified crop associated antibiotic resistance genes. The success of the research work plan will be measured by our ability to quantify genetically modified crop derived antibiotic resistance genes and to determine their role in global antibiotic resistance development. A successful outcome of this project will lead to a better understanding of the long term implications of utilizing antibiotic resistance genes as selectable marker genes in genetically modified crop engineering.