Resistome in biogas plants (RiB) - Can biogas plants help to reduce the global spread of resistance?

• Applicant: Dr. Christian Brandt
• Subject Area: Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Parasitology and Biology of Tropical Infectious Disease Pathogens
• Term: from 2018 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 408898598

The spread of antimicrobial resistance has been identified as one of the greatest threats to public health. Various factors, such as antibiotic consumption and antibiotic control in human and industrial use, as well as wastewater treatment and waste management play a cruicial role in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids, gene cassettes and / or integrons on which most of the resistance genes are located, are readily transmissible resistance gene reservoirs, which also allow gene exchange between non-pathogenic and pathogenic bacterial species and vice versa. This has been increasingly observed in sewage treatment plants. The aim of this work is to investigate whether microbial diversity and density in biogas plants promote the transmission and distribution dynamics of resistance genes or whether the e. g. occasionally extreme fermentation conditions such as increased ammonium content, thermal pre-treatment, and elevated process temperatures prevents transfer or uptake of mobile DNA elements. For this purpose, the resistome of influence and effluence of various biogas processes will be analyzed using High-throughput and Long-Read Sequencing Technology.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Sweden
• Hosts: Professor Erik Bongcam Rudloff; Dr. Bettina Müller