Glyphosate resistance as a potential driver for the dissemination of multidrug-resistant clinical strains.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Bench research / in vitro microbiological and genomic analysis
PubMed 41953436 · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2026.1740431
What was done
Researchers evaluated glyphosate resistance in multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial species isolated from nosocomial infections. They also used whole-genome sequencing on environmental and clinical strains to assess the genomic relationship between glyphosate-resistant environmental bacteria and clinical MDR pathogens, examining mutations in the target enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) and alternative mechanisms such as efflux pumps.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative values, strain counts, or effect estimates. Qualitatively, MDR isolates from hospital-acquired infections exhibited high levels of glyphosate resistance. Genomic analysis demonstrated that glyphosate resistance was linked between environmental and clinical MDR species and was partially independent of target EPSPS mutations, pointing to alternative resistance mechanisms like efflux pumps.
Why it matters
These findings suggest that non-antibiotic agricultural biocides like glyphosate may co-select for multidrug-resistant pathogens, highlighting the need to account for antimicrobial resistance selection in environmental biocide risk assessments.
Limits
The abstract does not state the sample size (number of clinical or environmental isolates evaluated), specific bacterial species, resistance breakpoints, or quantitative effect sizes. As an in vitro and genomic characterization, it does not demonstrate in vivo transmission or establish a direct causal link between real-world agricultural glyphosate use and hospital-acquired infection rates.
Cited by
- context Glyphosate (Roundup) was originally patented as an antibiotic rather than as an herbicide.