Artificial sweetener diversity promotes extracellular vesicle–mediated spread of antibiotic resistance in soil. (IMAGE)
Caption
Increasing diversity of artificial sweeteners stimulates a subset of soil bacteria to activate extracellular vesicle (EV) biogenesis pathways. These vesicles selectively package and release antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), leading to elevated resistance abundance and enhanced dissemination risk without major disruption of overall microbial community structure. EV-producing microbes are characterized by larger genomes, lower GC content, and enriched stress-adaptation functions, collectively facilitating vesicle-mediated gene transfer and hidden resistome expansion in soil ecosystems.
Credit
Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
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CC BY-NC-ND