Browsing by Author "Sloan, Caitlin"

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    Characterizing Antibiotic and Heavy Metal Resistance Genes from Bacteria in Commercial Ship Ballast Water Discharged into the Duluth-Superior Harbor
    (2019-12) Sloan, Caitlin
    Ballast water discharge is a powerful vector for introducing invasive species into aquatic ecosystems and microorganisms numerically dominate the discharge. Invasive bacteria may not only alter the diversity of native bacterial communities but also transfer genetic resistance to antibiotics and heavy metals into these communities. Antibiotic and heavy metal resistance was characterized for bacteria found in ballast water collected from commercial ships actively discharging ballast water into the Duluth-Superior Harbor during 2011 and 2012. Six fosmid libraries containing metagenomic DNA were constructed from ballast water and Duluth-Superior Harbor water. These libraries were screened for antibiotic resistance to benzylpenicillin, cefotaxime, and levofloxacin and heavy metal resistance to cadmium, zinc and mercury to determine resistance by bacteria in each water sample. There were differences between the proportions of microbial fosmids showing resistance to the three antibiotics from different ballast waters than originated from within the Great Lakes. The order of increasing proportion of resistance to benzylpenicillin was: Burns Harbor, IN=Hamilton, Ont.