18/07/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 18/07/2024 19:22
A key step in the characterisation of bacterial strains used in the food and feed chain is the identification of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes in their genomes. The presence of acquired AMR genes influences important aspects of the risk assessment, such as the applicability of the qualified presumption of safety (QPS) approach, which can have a direct impact on the data requirements. Aiming to implement the EFSA approach to discriminate between 'intrinsic' and 'acquired' AMR genes, a bioinformatics pipeline was developed and applied to the species of the genus Bacillus that are most frequently subjects of applications for regulated products submitted to EFSA. The results are presented as a catalogue of genes indicating their abundance and distribution among complete and confirmed genomes publicly available for each species. The results of this work are aimed to support the evaluation of AMR genes in a consistent and harmonised way.