VENDETTA

Antibiotic resistance reactor: the role of bivalves in the production, dissemination and monitoring of antibiotic resistance in the aquatic environment

2023 - 2026

The VENDETTA project aims to study the interactions between the bivalve mollusc, Dreissena polymorpha, and ATBr players (ATBr, bacteria, EGM) in order to gain a better understanding of i) the potential role of wildlife as a bioreactor promoting the dissemination of ATBr in the environment, but also ii) its potential interest in monitoring ATBr in aquatic environments and iii) the potential toxicity of elements associated with ATBr in aquatic organisms.

Antibiotic resistance (ATBr) is an increasingly worrying public health problem which is becoming the world's leading cause of death. The selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is inherent in human activities (human and veterinary antibiotic therapies, use of antiseptics, etc.). These ATBr bacteria are frequently discharged into the aquatic environment via urban or agricultural effluents, and can then spread and recontaminate people and animals via aquatic recreational activities, watering livestock or irrigating crops. The environment is therefore suspected of playing a key role in the emergence and dissemination of ATBr, but the phenomena and players involved remain poorly understood, as this environment remains highly complex to study. Although the release of antibiotics (ATBs) into aquatic systems is much less marked in Europe than in many other parts of the world, it does contribute overall to the development and spread of ATBr. Furthermore, ATBr genes are not distributed homogeneously in bacterial genomes, but are very frequently physically grouped together within mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as transposons, plasmids or integrons. At the same time, various studies have highlighted the bioaccumulation of ATBs in filter-feeding bivalve molluscs and bacterial biomass.

In this context, the VENDETTA project aims to study the interactions between the bivalve mollusc, Dreissena polymorpha, and ATBr players (ATBr, bacteria, EGM) in order to gain a better understanding of i) the potential role of wildlife as a bioreactor promoting the dissemination of ATBr in the environment, but also ii) its potential interest in monitoring ATBr in aquatic environments and iii) the potential toxicity of elements associated with ATBr in aquatic organisms.