Consolidating and exploring antibiotic resistance gene data resources

Abstract

The unrestricted use of antibiotics has resulted in rapid acquisition of antibiotic resistance (AR) and spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens. With the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies and their application in understanding MDR pathogen dynamics, it has become imperative to unify AR gene data resources for easy accessibility for researchers. However, due to the absence of a centralized platform for AR gene resources, availability, consistency, and accuracy of information vary considerably across different databases. In this article, we explore existing AR gene data resources in order to make them more visible to the clinical microbiology community, to identify their limitations, and to propose potential solutions.