Project description
The link between heavy metal pollution and antibiotic resistance
Human activities have altered global biogeochemical cycles for millennia, profoundly affecting microbial habitats, nutrient availability, and exposure to reactive chemicals. Among these changes, the release of heavy metals and the widespread use of antibiotics have introduced lasting environmental shifts. The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) contributes to an estimated 700 000 deaths annually from infections that no longer respond to treatment. However, the mechanisms driving this spread remain unclear. With this in mind, the ERC-funded Paleo-MARE will use paleoecological archives to identify the co-selection processes of heavy metal resistance genes and ARGs, shedding light on how these pollutants have shaped microbial evolution. The results are expected to provide crucial insights for policy development, emission guidelines, and future drug innovations.
Objective
Global biogeochemical cycles drive our planets health through the control of microbial habitats, nutrient availability and distribution, and exposure to reactive chemicals. By releasing heavy metals into the environment and altering natural fluxes, Humans have carried out a planetary wide experiment for millennia that is pushing our ecosystem towards an unknown future. More recently, this has included the production, use and release of antibiotics, which has led to the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across the globe. ARG spread has critical consequences for human and environmental health with an estimated 700.000 deaths/year resulting from infections unresponsive to antibiotics. However, the underlying mechanisms that led to the spread of ARGs worldwide are unknown. The presence of heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs) and ARGs in microbial genomes suggests a co-selection. However, present day ecosystems are contaminated by both.
To solve this conundrum, I will combine geochemical and microbiological discovery of the links between heavy metal pollution and the spread of antimicrobial resistance from pre-industrial times to the present using paleoecological archives.
I will identify the mechanisms underlying metal-induced ARG spread, the preferential relationships between specific metals and ARGs, and quantify the timing between drug/metal use and ARG spread, determine the impact of emerging pollutants on ARG spread, and evaluate the future risk of remobilization of contaminants and resistance genes. I will redefine how heavy metal pollution maintains antibiotic resistance in the environment. This will reach well beyond the project and develop the synergy of microbiology and geochemical processes for a quantum-leap forward in defining the effects of geochemistry on human health. These results will provide fundamental data that can be used to inform policy on emission guidelines and on drug development.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences geochemistry
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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(opens in new window) ERC-2022-COG
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75794 PARIS
France
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