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Functional Metagenomic Insights into Antibiotic Resistance Genes from the Uppermost Layer of the East Sea, Korea
Gwang Il Jang1*
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Ulsan College, Ulsan 44610, Korea
*Corresponding Author
14 July 2025. pp. 1-9
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Abstract

The issue of antibiotic resistance (AR) has become critically important. As the use of antibiotics increases, bacteria develop resistance mechanisms that allow them to survive in antibiotic-contaminated environments. The functional metagenomic approach is more effective than culture-dependent methods, PCR, and sequencing in discovering novel AR genes and resistance mechanisms. In the East Sea, various antibiotic resistance (AR) genes conferring resistance to ampicillin, fosfomycin, polymyxin B and rifampicin were identified. Among these antibiotics, the majority of the cloned resistance genes conferred resistance to ampicillin (55.9%), followed by polymyxin B (23.5%), fosfomycin (11.8%), and rifampicin (8.8%). The host organisms inferred from the annotated AR genes were primarily marine bacterial taxa.

Keywords
functional metagenomics
antibiotics
antibiotic resistance gene
Marine bacteria
East Sea
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Information
  • Publisher :Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국해양과학기술원
  • Journal Title :Ocean and Polar Research
  • Journal Title(Ko) :Ocean and Polar Research
  • Volume : 47
  • Pages :1-9
  • Received Date : 2025-02-26
  • Revised Date : 2025-06-02
  • Accepted Date : 2025-06-24
  • Published Date : 2025-07-14
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.4217/OPR.2025010
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