Persistent Pesky Plasmids....

You are just luh-ving the alliteration. I know, I know. I'll give you some time to simmer down.... You ready? Off we go!

Ok so this article talks about plasmids! It's kind of funny how we always learn about stuff on the BioLeague tests after the tests. I remember staring at the test and being like, "What on Earth is a plasmid..." Woe is me... But I digress! So back to the article... Yeah it talks about plasmids!

So there was a study which done to help more clearly identify the link between farm-generated animal waste and the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in microbial soil communities, by mobile genetic elements. The study used electromagnetic induction (EMI) surveying of a soil sampling that was broiler chicken farm assisted from a chicken-waste-impacted site and a not-so affected site. The EMI showed that there were differences between the two samples in pH and tetracycline resistance (Tc(R)) level in the culturable soil bacteria. Also,  several tet and erm genes were sparsely or highly present in the soil.

 Alright so here comes the interesting part. I know you're thinking, "And where are the plasmids..." So, in all of the aspects I mentioned above there really wasn't a huge difference in the marginally affected site and sites in the pristine regional forest sites. However, when the farm was operating, tet(L), tet(M), tet(O), erm(A), erm(B), and erm(C) genes were detected in the soil affected by waste. Two years after all waste was removed from the farm, tet(L), tet(M), tet(O), and erm(C) genes were still detected. Woah! If we removed them, how on earth could they still be there? Those sneaky little plasmids is how they are still there!
Being as though scientists are just constantly asking more questions, they delve even deeper and found out more information. Species of Bhargavaea, Sporosarcina, and Bacillus were the plasmid's hosts. The plasmid's mobilization (mob) gene was quantified to so they could estimte how much of it was in the soil. The ratio of tet(L) to mob changed from 34:1 at the beginning of the two years to 1:1 at the end of the two years.