AUTHOR=Jechalke Sven , Schreiter Susanne , Wolters Birgit , Dealtry Simone , Heuer Holger , Smalla Kornelia TITLE=Widespread dissemination of class 1 integron components in soils and related ecosystems as revealed by cultivation-independent analysis JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=4 YEAR=2014 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2013.00420 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2013.00420 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
Class 1 integrons contribute to the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance in human medicine by acquisition, exchange, and expression of resistance genes embedded within gene cassettes. Besides the clinical setting they were recently reported from environmental habitats and often located on plasmids and transposons, facilitating their transfer and spread within bacterial communities. In this study we aimed to provide insights into the occurrence of genes typically associated with the class 1 integrons in previously not studied environments with or without human impact and their association with IncP-1 plasmids. Total community DNA was extracted from manure-treated and untreated soils, lettuce and potato rhizosphere, digestates, and an on-farm biopurification system and screened by PCR with subsequent Southern blot hybridization for the presence of the class 1 integrase gene