An assessment of the risks associated with the use of antibiotic resistance genes in genetically modified plants: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

被引:53
作者
Bennett, PM [1 ]
Livesey, CT
Nathwani, D
Reeves, DS
Saunders, JR
Wise, R
机构
[1] Univ Bristol, Dept Pathol & Microbiol, Bristol BS8 1TD, Avon, England
[2] MAFF, Cent Vet Lab, New Haw KT15 3NB, Surrey, England
[3] Tayside Univ Hosp, Ninewells Hosp, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland
[4] Journal Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Editorial Off, Birmingham B1 2JS, W Midlands, England
[5] Univ Liverpool, Sch Biol Sci, Liverpool L69 7ZB, Merseyside, England
[6] City Hosp NHS Trust, Dept Med Microbiol, Birmingham B18 7QH, W Midlands, England
关键词
GM plants; transfer of resistance genes; spread of resistance genes; risk-hazard assessment;
D O I
10.1093/jac/dkh087
中图分类号
R51 [传染病];
学科分类号
100401 ;
摘要
Development of genetically modified (GM) plants is contentious, in part because bacterial antibiotic resistance (AR) genes are used in their construction and often become part of the plant genome. This arouses concern that cultivation of GM plants might provide a reservoir of AR genes that could power the evolution of new drug-resistant bacteria. We have considered bacterial DNA transfer systems (conjugation, transduction and transformation) and mechanisms of recombination (homologous recombination, transposition, site-specific recombination and DNA repair) that together might productively transfer AR genes from GM plants to bacterial cells, but are unable to identify a credible scenario whereby new drug-resistant bacteria would be created. However, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of rare transfer events that involve novel mechanisms. Hence, we also considered if occasional transfers of AR genes (bla(TEM), aph(3'), aadA) from GM plants into bacteria would pose a threat to public health. These AR genes are common in many bacteria and each is found on mobile genetic elements that have moved extensively between DNA molecules and bacterial cells. This gene mobility has already severely compromised clinical use of antibiotics to which resistance is conferred. Accordingly, the argument that occasional transfer of these particular resistance genes from GM plants to bacteria would pose an unacceptable risk to human or animal health has little substance. We conclude that the risk of transfer of AR genes from GM plants to bacteria is remote, and that the hazard arising from any such gene transfer is, at worst, slight.
引用
收藏
页码:418 / 431
页数:14
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