Farming practices exert selection pressures on the resistome of natural populations of house mice.

Farming practices influence the distribution of antimicrobial resistance genes, with livestock exposure increasing potentially mobile ARGs in house mice microbiomes by 27%.

• Why it matters: Understanding how environmental factors shape antimicrobial resistance in wild populations is crucial for managing the spread of resistance genes beyond clinical settings, especially in human-impacted landscapes.
• What they did: Researchers analyzed 875 gut metagenomes from house mice across German farms from 2016 to 2022, using joint species distribution models to assess the impact of landscape, climate, and host factors on ARG occurrence.
• The result: Farming intensity and livestock exposure significantly affected ARG distribution, with over 50% shared ARGs between mice and livestock manure, highlighting landscape-driven selection pressures that facilitate ARG mobility and spread.