We developed an approach based on Inverse PCR and long read sequencing for amplifying and sequencing the genetic environment of antibiotic resistance genes.
Inverse PCR with PacBio sequencing was able to detect considerably more MGEs and was more cost and labor effective than metagenomics sequencing for estimating the mobility of ARGs.
IPCR is a cost and labor effective method for studying mobility potential of environmental ARGs. In the future, multiplexing the PCR step for up to hundreds of different ARGs can help resolve technical hindrances in studying environmental resistomes.
The article by Katariina Pärnänen et al was published in Scientific reports 21 October 2016 and can be found here: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep35790