ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1595833
The ecological security risks of bronopol: A focus on antibiotic resistance gene dissemination
Provisionally accepted
Zhuocheng Yao1
Yuhan Yang2Yanchun Gong1Shiyi Shi3Yunying Ge1
Weiliang Zeng1Deyi Zhao2
Jianming Cao1
Tieli Zhou1,4*
Mo Shen1*- 1Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 3Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
- 4Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
However, residual disinfectants may promote environmental antimicrobial resistance by facilitating horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of antibiotic resistance genes. Bronopol is a routinely used disinfectant that persists in the environment, and previous studies have concentrated on its ecotoxicity rather than its implications on the propagation of resistance genes. This study aimed to establish an in vitro conjugation model to investigate whether bronopol promotes the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) via plasmid conjugation. Using Escherichia coli DH5α and DC8855 as donors harboring RP4-7 and blaNDM-4-positive IncFII(K) plasmids, respectively, and J53 as the recipient strain, we found that sub-inhibitory concentrations of bronopol ( 2μg/L and 20 μg/L) significantly increased the conjugative transfer frequency (CTF) of both plasmids. Mechanistic analysis revealed that bronopol enhanced bacterial membrane permeability, as demonstrated by propidium iodide (PI) staining, 1-N-phenylnaphthylamine (NPN) fluorescent probes, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and upregulation of the outer membrane protein gene ompC.Additionally, bronopol treatment upregulated RP4 plasmid-encoded genes involved in DNA transfer/replication (trfAp) and the global regulator of HGT (kilA/kilB). These findings highlight a previously unrecognized role of bronopol in facilitating the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes, particularly those of clinical significance.
Keywords: Bronopol, horizontal gene transfer, RP4-7, bla-NDM, Disinfectant
Received: 18 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yao, Yang, Gong, Shi, Ge, Zeng, Zhao, Cao, Zhou and Shen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Tieli Zhou, Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
Mo Shen, Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnosis and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.