Sulfonamide resistance gene sul4 is hosted by common wastewater sludge bacteria and found in various newly described contexts and hosts

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is an ancient phenomenon and a common trait of many environmental bacteria. However, human activities in the post-antibiotic era, coupled with the bacteria’s ability to exchange genetic material across different lineages, have drastically increased the spread of resistance traits among bacteria from various niches. The primary concern is the resistance genes encoded by infections causing pathogens, already causing over 1 million deaths annually and indirectly contributing to nearly 4 million more. Therefore, understanding the bacteria that harbor ARGs and the genetic mechanisms driving their mobilization is crucial for understanding the dynamics and emerging trends of resistance. Here, we focus on revealing these crucial aspects of the newly discovered sulfonamide resistance gene, sul4 . Given the limitations of the metagenomic approach in linking the functional genes to their host genomes, the significance of our research lies in our workflow, which allows this linkage through the identification of shared methylation profiles.