Diversity and Genetic Basis for Carbapenem Resistance in a Coastal Marine Environment

Abstract

Resistance against the “last-resort” antibiotics of the carbapenem family is often based on the production of carbapenemases, and this has been frequently observed in clinical samples. However, the dissemination of carbapenem resistance (CR) in the environment has been less well explored. Our study shows that CR is commonly found in a range of bacterial taxa in the coastal aquatic environment and can involve the exchange of novel metallo-β-lactamases from typical environmental bacteria to potential human pathogens or vice versa. The outcomes of this study contribute to a better understanding of how aquatic and marine bacteria can act as reservoirs and vectors for CR outside the clinical setting.