Emergence of methicillin resistance predates the clinical use of antibiotics.
Authors
Raisen, Claire L
Sadgrove, Nicholas J
Simmonds, Monique SJ
Loncaric, Igor
Kerschner, Heidrun
Apfalter, Petra
Hartl, Rainer
Deplano, Ariane
Vandendriessche, Stien
Hulva, Pavel
Arendrup, Maiken C
Hare, Rasmus K
Barnadas, Céline
Stegger, Marc
Sieber, Raphael N
Petersen, Andreas
Angen, Øystein
Lindholm, Laura J
Nykäsenoja, Suvi M
Laurent, Frederic
Walther, Birgit
Kehrenberg, Corinna
Cuny, Christiane
Werner, Guido
Witte, Wolfgang
Stamm, Ivonne
García-Garrote, Fernando
Hæggman, Sara
Perreten, Vincent
Teale, Christopher J
Pichon, Bruno
Curran, Martin D
Ellington, Matthew J
Seilly, David J
Hadjirin, Nazreen F
Lindsay, Jodi A
Edwards, Giles F
Larsen, Anders R
Publication Date
2022-02Journal Title
Nature
ISSN
0028-0836
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
602
Issue
7895
Pages
135-141
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Larsen, J., Raisen, C. L., Ba, X., Sadgrove, N. J., Padilla-González, G. F., Simmonds, M. S., Loncaric, I., et al. (2022). Emergence of methicillin resistance predates the clinical use of antibiotics.. Nature, 602 (7895), 135-141. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04265-w
Abstract
The discovery of antibiotics more than 80 years ago has led to considerable improvements in human and animal health. Although antibiotic resistance in environmental bacteria is ancient, resistance in human pathogens is thought to be a modern phenomenon that is driven by the clinical use of antibiotics1. Here we show that particular lineages of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-a notorious human pathogen-appeared in European hedgehogs in the pre-antibiotic era. Subsequently, these lineages spread within the local hedgehog populations and between hedgehogs and secondary hosts, including livestock and humans. We also demonstrate that the hedgehog dermatophyte Trichophyton erinacei produces two β-lactam antibiotics that provide a natural selective environment in which methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates have an advantage over susceptible isolates. Together, these results suggest that methicillin resistance emerged in the pre-antibiotic era as a co-evolutionary adaptation of S. aureus to the colonization of dermatophyte-infected hedgehogs. The evolution of clinically relevant antibiotic-resistance genes in wild animals and the connectivity of natural, agricultural and human ecosystems demonstrate that the use of a One Health approach is critical for our understanding and management of antibiotic resistance, which is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security and development.
Keywords
Article, /631/92/349/977, /631/158/1745, /631/326/22/1434, /631/326/41/2529, /631/326/41/1470, /45/22, /45/23, /101/58, article
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (G1001787)
Medical Research Council (MR/N002660/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/P007201/1)
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/S000186/1)
Identifiers
s41586-021-04265-w, 4265
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04265-w
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/333602
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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