FDA launches a new tool for antibiotic-resistant genes
According to FDA, the Resistome Tracker was mainly designed for public health officials, academics and researchers who are using new genomics technologies to track and treat infectious diseases.
The interactive interface of FDA's new tool allows users to customize visualizations by antibiotic drug class, compare resistance genes across different sources, identify new resistance genes, and map selected resistance genes to geographic region.
"Whole genome sequencing (WGS) enables researchers to determine the complete DNA sequence of a bacterium, providing a wealth of information on different traits in microorganisms that could not easily be uncovered previously. FDA scientists have used these new sequencing technologies to show that for the bacteria targeted in the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), antibiotic resistance can be predicted with a high degree of confidence from the DNA sequence (McDermott, et al., Zhao et al)," the FDA statement read.
FDA announced that the new tool is focused on antibiotic resistance genes in Salmonella. Salmonella genome sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) public databases are uploaded to Resistome Tracker on a weekly basis, allowing near real-time monitoring of antibiotic resistance. Presently, Resistome Tracker includes WGS data on 97,390 genomes from NCBI, 27,512 of which are U.S. isolates and 8,900 are isolated from the NARMS. Future iterations of the tool will include data on other microorganisms such as E. coli and Campylobacter as well as additional gene categories such as serotype, sequence type and virulence genes.
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