The landscape of antibiotic resistance genes in the nasopharynx of preterm infants: Prolonged signature of hospitalization and effects by antibiotics

Abstract

ABSTRACTRespiratory pathogens, commonly colonizing nasopharynx, are among the leading causes of death due to antimicrobial resistance. Yet, antibiotic resistance determinants within nasopharyngeal microbial communities remain poorly understood. Utilizing shotgun metagenomics, we investigated the nasopharynx resistome development in preterm infants, assessed early antibiotic impact on its trajectory, and explored its association with clinical covariates. Our findings revealed widespread nasopharyngeal carriage of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) with resistomes undergoing transient changes, including increased ARG diversity, abundance, and composition alterations due to early antibiotic exposure. ARGs associated with the critical nosocomial pathogenSerratia marcescenspersisted (at 8-10 months of age) for months following discharge, signifying hospitalization signature. The nasopharyngeal resistome strongly correlated with microbiome composition, with inter-individual differences and postnatal age explaining most of the variation. The collateral effects of antibiotics and hospitalization reported here highlights the importance of future studies focusing on this yet rather unexplored reservoir of pathogens and ARGs.