Establishing Evidence-Based Recommendations for the Use of Metals in Agricultural

The overarching goal of the project is to establish evidence-based recommendations for the level of metals that will encourage the spread of mobile elements that mobilize antibiotic resistance via transposons found common in agriculture and in food poisoning and food spoilage bacteria. Establishing a realistic system for monitoring the co-transfer of genetic information with transposons already found common in agriculture will be essential for keeping the public's trust. We will work with genetic elements found globally and in NY State Agriculture that are regularly isolated for conveying metal resistance in bacteria. Objective 1 - We will establish a system to monitor genetic transfer in a highly-controlled setting that will account for how genetic information transfers between plasmids (which allow mobilization between bacterial strains) and the chromosome (which would allow stable maintenance of these functions after metal exposure). Objective 2 - We will establish any role metals play in stimulating the transfer of the element between bacteria and the acquisition of new functions like antibiotic resistance. We will engage stakeholders in NY State to ensure these conditions mimic real world conditions. Objective 3 - We will investigate alternative approaches that can be utilized to minimize the risk of gene transfer in the agricultural setting. This information will be communicated in a usable way to regulators to make informed decisions.