REVIEW ARTICLE published: 28 September 2011 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2011.00203 Acquired antibiotic resistance genes: an overview Angela H. A. M. van Hoek 1, Dik Mevius2,3, Beatriz Guerra4, Peter Mullany 5, Adam Paul Roberts5 and Henk J. M. Aarts1* 1 Laboratory for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Utrecht, Netherlands 2 Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen UR, Lelystad, Netherlands 3 Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands 4 National Salmonella Reference Laboratory, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany 5 Department of Microbial Diseases, University College London Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, London, UK Edited by: In this review an overview is given on antibiotic resistance (AR) mechanisms with special Timothy Rutland Walsh, Cardiff attentions to the AR genes described so far preceded by a short introduction on the dis- University, UK covery and mode of action of the different classes of antibiotics. As this review is only Reviewed by: M. Pilar Francino, Center for Public dealing with acquired resistance, attention is also paid to mobile genetic elements such as Health Research, Spain plasmids, transposons, and integrons, which are associated with AR genes, and involved Jun Liu, Mount Sinai School of in the dispersal of antimicrobial determinants between different bacteria. Medicine, USA Keywords: antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, acquired, antibiotics, mobile genetic elements *Correspondence: Henk J. M. Aarts, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoekla 9, 3721 MA Bilthoven, Utrecht, Netherlands. e-mail:
[email protected] INTRODUCTION emergence of resistance actually began before the first antibiotic, The discovery and production of (synthetic) antibiotics in the first penicillin, was characterized.