Project 2936 - 2010/11

Antibiotic resistance is common in bacteria associated with humans. This characteristic is often used to identify sources of environmental contamination by determining bacterial growth in the presence of antibiotics. A DNA element called an integron, which can capture, mobilize and express genes allows bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics. This mechanism can move antibiotic resistant genes to individuals within a species and between different species. The discovery of integrons has created novel approaches for tracking bacterial contamination. We aim to apply these tools to determine the distribution of antibiotic resistance genes from human sewage through the Antarctic environment.