Integrated Practical: Antibiotic-Resistance in Soil Microbial Communities

Abstract

Students will gain a practical appreciation for how common antibiotic-resistant bacteria are in local environments and skills in quantifying their frequency and diversity.

Objective

Students will - gain knowledge of how antibiotics work and the molecular mechanisms of drug resistance, - learn how to isolate microbial samples from soil and analyze the frequency of antibiotic resistant colonies, - compare resistance frequencies across sample sites, - record quantitative variation of diversity in resistant species within and across sample sites, - present their results and compose a scientific report of their findings.

Content

Increasing detection of multidrug-resistant bacteria in recent years has raised alarm regarding the role of antibiotic use in human medicine and animal husbandry in promoting the spread of antibiotic-resistance genes. Antibiotics, whether produced by natural organisms or released into the environment from human use, can greatly influence the biodiversity of microbial communities. In this course, we will analyze the frequency and diversity of culturable antibiotic-resistant bacteria within soil communities in and near Zurich both at sites proximate to heavy human activity and at relatively undisturbed woodland sites.

Resources