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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.08.06.455440

Diversity of Antibiotic Resistance genes and Transfer Elements-Quantitative Monitoring (DARTE-QM): a method for detection of antimicrobial resistance in environmental samples

Smith, S. D.·Choi, J.·Ricker, N.·Yang, F.·Hinsa-Leasure, S.·Soupir, M.·Allen, H.·Howe, A.
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Abstract

Effective monitoring of antibiotic resistance genes and their dissemination in environmental ecosystems has been hindered by the cost and efficiency of methods available for the task. We developed a method entitled the Diversity of Antibiotic Resistance genes and Transfer Elements-Quantitative Monitoring (DARTE-QM), a system implementing high-throughput sequencing to simultaneously sequence thousands of antibiotic resistant genes representing a full-spectrum of antibiotic resistance classes commonly seen in environmental systems. In this study, we demonstrated DARTE-QM by screening 662 antibiotic resistance genes within environmental samples originated from manure, soil, and animal feces, in addition to a mock-community used as a control to test performance. DARTE-QM offers a new approach to studying antibiotic resistance in environmental microbiomes, showing advantages in efficiency and the ability to scale for many samples. This method provides a means of data acquisition that will alleviate the obstacles that many researchers in this area currently face.

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Smith, S. D., Choi, J., Ricker, N., Yang, F., Hinsa-Leasure, S., Soupir, M., Allen, H., Howe, A.. 2021-08-06. Diversity of Antibiotic Resistance genes and Transfer Elements-Quantitative Monitoring (DARTE-QM): a method for detection of antimicrobial resistance in environmental samples. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.06.455440

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