FEMTO

Marine bacteria (and Archaea) play major roles in the oceanic carbon biogeochemical cycle thus structuring our planet and promoting Earth habitability. Within the marine biogeochemical cycle of carbon, microbes determine the fate of the fixed carbon: respiration, nutrient regeneration, biomass for higher trophic levels, sinking detrital particles for carbon storage. One layer of complexity within the microbial functioning that hasn't been explored yet, is the associated mobilome focused on antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), the resistome, within the microbial biogeochemical role in ocean-atmosphere as interconnected environments. Now more than ever, we understand the importance of the human-microbe nexus via air-water environment. It is urgent to shift gear in managing the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Mobilome can be defined as specific information embedded in microbial genomes and can be exchanged among microbes. Swapping genes allow microbes to develop novel strategies for thriving in the environment. Within the mobilome, resistome refers to all genes that directly or indirectly contribute to antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, due to technical difficulties to recreate the “atmosphere as a microbial environment” there is a general lack of fundamental knowledge on bacteria behavior, physiology and ultimately gene expression in the air. FEMTO combines biogeochemical measurements with targeted resistome-mobilome metagenomics, and innovative culture-based experiments in an atmospheric simulation chamber. This research will map focused resistome-mobilome in the sea spray aerosol (SSA) and water column and estimate the potential ARG transfer linked to specific mobile elements thus predicting the resistome-mobilome dynamics along a gradient of anthropogenic and climate-induced stressors. UniTS, UniGE and OGS form the FEMTO team who are experts in environmental microbiology, aerosol physics and marine biogeochemistry.

As a tangible product, we will create a risk map based on resistome-mobilome dynamics and expression focusing on ARGs within the carbon biogeochemical framework. Success in our goal should yield a mechanistic understanding of the marine biogeochemical significance of microbial ARG pools and their expressions.

Our findings will provide data for supporting the management of the antimicrobial resistance issue within the One Health approach where human, animal and environmental health must be managed in synchrony across environments. Bimonthly group meetings will ensure high-flow communication in the FEMTO team and prompt risk management. We will rapidly communicate our findings in wide circulation open-access journals, at conferences and in open-day events, and via social media platforms. FEMTO could shift the current paradigm on microbial carbon cycling and marine ecosystem functioning thus revealing a novel resistome-mobilome-derived context for carbon biogeochemistry across the air-ocean continuum.