Does heavy metal polluted water in Bolivia drive evolution towards antibiotic resistance genes in water microbiota and pathogens?

Pollution of water is an increasing problem globally and absence of safe drinking water is a major problem for human health. Pollutants such as medical residues, metals, antibiotics, biocides and pathogenic bacteria are found in surface and ground water. The arid highlands of the Altiplano, at 3800 m, Bolivia face large problems with water pollution and inability to provide safe drinking water. Excessive mining occurs in the Andes mountain regions in Bolivia and rivers contaminated with e.g. Cd, Zn, As, Cu, Ni, Pb and Sn, runs from mining areas through cities such as El Alto and La Paz and may end up in lake Titicaca. The highly contaminated water environments shifts the microbial composition towards species with tolerance or resistance towards metals. Metal- and antibiotic resistance are linked: co-selection by heavy metals and antibiotics can occur if resistance determinants are present in the same cell (co-resistance) or if a common resistance mechanism confer resistance to both types of toxicants (cross-resistance). We will analyse several water sources, (along rivers, lakes and lagoons in La Paz, Milluni, Oruro and Titicaca) more or less affected by metal pollution. We will determine the microbial compositon and presence of pathogens by 16S, metagenomics and qPCR. Presence of antibiotic and metal resistance genes and levels of metal pollution will be determined. We will determine if metal ions drive antibiotic resistance transfer from microbiota to pathogenic bacteria.