ArticleNature communications2019
Fecal pollution can explain antibiotic resistance gene abundances in anthropogenically impacted environments.
Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 174 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
174 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Metagenome meta-analysis reveals an increase in the abundance of some multidrug efflux pumps and mobile genetic elements in chemically polluted environments.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2023Pooled it
- Twenty-year trends in antimicrobial resistance from aquaculture and fisheries in Asia.Nature communications · 2021Pooled it
- Contributions and Challenges of High Throughput qPCR for Determining Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment: A Critical Review.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Pooled it
- Beyond the gut microbe: Rethinking infection, microbiome harmony, and the one-health continuum.World journal of gastrointestinal pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Review
- Ambient temperature variations and antimicrobial resistance: a multicountry analysis of non-linear relationships and temperature thresholds.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization ofBiology · 2026Article
- Genomic and phylogenomic analyses reveal extensive diversity among soil-derived Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from Nigeria.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia Coli and Salmonella in poultry production and spread and effect in the one health framework.Poultry science · 2026Review
- Plastic leachates drive conjugative transfer of antibiotic resistance genes.Environmental science and ecotechnology · 2026Article
- Steam Cooking Methods Promote the Transfer of Viable Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogens from Water into Air.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Persistence of environmental and wastewater-associated antibiotic resistance in river water.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Investigation of cyanobacteria-hosted antibiotic resistance genes in cyanoHAB-impacted drinking water sources.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2026Article
- Waterborne pathogen mitigation: Decoding techno-ecological synergies in multiscale transmission networks.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Review
- A Concept Using α-Niche Evolution Within Bacterial Communities to Direct β-Niche Evolution of Focal Species.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Antibiotic resistance gradient along a large Scandinavian river influenced by wastewater treatment plants.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Identification and characterization ofJournal of water and health · 2026Article
- Macroecological processes impact Australian soil resistomes and climatically stable regions with anthropogenic activities serve as ARG hotspots.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Toward standardized environmental detection of antibiotics and ARGs for regulatory interpretation and concern tiering.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Shotgun metagenomics reveals the prevalence and mobility of antibiotic resistance genes in the West Bay of the human-impacted Laguna Lake.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Impact of yak excreta on soil bacterial community in alpine marsh under warming conditions.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
114 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Discharge of treated sewage leads to release of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resistance genes and antibiotic residues to the environment. However, it is unclear whether increased abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in sewage and sewage-impacted environments is due to on-site selection pressure by residual antibiotics, or is simply a result of fecal contamination with resistant bacteria. Here we analyze relative resistance gene abundance and accompanying extent of fecal pollution in publicly available metagenomic data, using crAssphage sequences as a marker of human fecal contamination (crAssphage is a bacteriophage that is exceptionally abundant in, and specific to, human feces). We find that the presence of resistance genes can largely be explained by fecal pollution, with no clear signs of selection in the environment, with the exception of environments polluted by very high levels of antibiotics from manufacturing, where selection is evident. Our results demonstrate the necessity to take into account fecal pollution levels to avoid making erroneous assumptions regarding environmental selection of antibiotic resistance.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.