Relative Ultraviolet Sensitivity of Selected Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Waterborne Bacteria

摘要

This study investigated the ability of monochromatic ultraviolet (UV) light at 254 nm applied at typical drinking water disinfection doses to damage the antibiotic-resistant genes mph(A) , sul1 , tet-A , and bla-Tem1 in waterborne bacteria. UV sensitivity rank was bla-TEM1 > tet-A > sul1 > mph(A) , which is consistent with predictions of a previously presented genomic-based UV sensitivity model. It is the first time that predictions of the relative UV sensitivity of antibiotic resistance genes have been validated with experimental data and suggest that such modeling is useful for determining the UV sensitivity of other genes in waterborne microorganisms.