Willms, Inka M.

Soil bacteria have been investigated for more than a century, but one of the most dominant terrestrial groups on Earth, “ Candidatus Udaeobacter,” remains elusive and largely unexplored. Its natural habitat is considered a major reservoir of antibiotics, which directly or indirectly impact phylogenetically diverse microorganisms. Here, we found that “ Ca. Udaeobacter” representatives exhibit multidrug resistance and not only evade harmful effects of antimicrobials but even benefit from antibiotic pressure in soil. Therefore, “ Ca. Udaeobacter” evidently affects the composition of soil resistomes worldwide and might represent a winner of rising environmental pollution with antimicrobials. In addition, our study indicates that “ Ca. Udaeobacter” representatives utilize H 2 and thereby contribute to global hydrogen cycling. The here-reported findings provide insights into elementary lifestyle features of “ Ca. Udaeobacter,” potentially contributing to its successful global dissemination.