JAC Advance Access originally published online on October 14, 2004
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2004 54(5):960; doi:10.1093/jac/dkh464
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JAC vol.54 no.5 © The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2004; all rights reserved
Correspondence |
Reply
1 Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD; 2 Central Veterinary Laboratory, New Haw, Surrey KT15 3NB; 3 Ninewells Hospital, Tayside University Hospitals, Dundee DD1 9SY; 4 Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Editorial Office, Birmingham B1 2JS; 5 School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB; 6 Department of Medical Microbiology, City Hospital NHS Trust, Dudley Road, Birmingham B18 7QH, UK
Keywords: antibiotic resistance , resistance genes , genetically modified plants
Sir,
We read the correspondence from Goodyear1 with interest. Whereas we basically agree with the points raised regarding animal husbandry, these reservations do not alter materially the central arguments in the BSAC Working Party Report,2 that the three resistance genes are widespread as the result of natural spread between bacteria, that the most likely route for a resistance gene into a new bacterium is from one that possesses it, and that rescue of a resistance gene from plant DNA is likely to be a very infrequent event, if it can happen at all in the absence of significant sequence homology. In terms of risk, what is important is quantification. If the gene(s) is already widespread, as a consequence of natural transfer, then the additional risk arising from an unlikely, i.e. very low frequency, event can be considered of little consequence, because it will add little to the risk, in the overall scheme of things.
However, the addition of any new adventitious pathway for transfer of bacterial antibiotic resistance genes is, in principle, undesirable, because it may be a more effective pathway into bacteria that do not yet carry the genes than is currently believed to be the case. Hence, when possible, bacterial antibiotic resistance genes should not be incorporated into plant genomes in the course of construction of GM cultivars.
Footnotes
* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-117-928-7897; Fax: +44-117-928-7896; Email: peter.m.bennett{at}bristol.ac.uk
References
1
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Goodyear, K. L. (2004). Comment on: An assessment of the risks associated with the use of antibiotic resistance genes in genetically modified plants: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 54, 959.
2
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Bennett, P. M., Livesey, C. T., Nathwani, D. et al. (2004). An assessment of the risks associated with the use of antibiotic resistance genes in genetically modified plants: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 53, 418–31.
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