Occurrence and Distribution Patterns of Antibiotic-resistant Bacterial Genes in Agricultural Lands of Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines

Aim: The spread of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (ARB) worldwide leads to difficult and prolonged treatment of diseases and causes significant damage to human health and the environment. In this study, the distribution of resistance genes was investigated in terms of country, plant species, and with/without manure.

Methodology: Fifty-five soil DNA libraries from Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia were amplified by PCR, and electrophoresis was used to detect target bands of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), which included three types of sulfonamide resistance, Sul1, Sul2, and Sul3; eight types of tetracycline resistance, TetM, TetO, TetS, TetW, TetC, TetA, TetB, and TetL; blaTEM for beta-lactam resistance; ermB for macrolide resistance; and qnrA for quinolone resistance, intl1 as integrons.

Results: The most characteristic results were obtained for plant species, and the difference between orchards and fields was found to affect the resistance genes. The distribution of genes was bimodal between Japan, which belongs to the temperate zone, and the Philippines and Indonesia, which belong to the tropical zone, and the differences in drug resistance genes were found to be due to differences in biome. The detection rate increased in soils with and without manure, but there were no significant differences in resistance genes other than ermB.