Identification of a globally distributed clinical streptomycin-resistance plasmid and other resistance determinants in a coastal bay of China

Abstract

Aims: To study streptomycin-resistant bacteria isolated from Jiaozhou Bay and their molecular determinants of resistance.

Methods and results: Twenty-seven tetracycline-resistant and 49 chloramphenicol-resistant bacterial isolates from surface seawater of Jiaozhou Bay were selected for investigation. More than 88% of these isolates were resistant to streptomycin. Half of the streptomycin-resistant bacteria harboured the strA-strB gene pair, and six isolates carried Tn5393-like transposons by PCR detection. The p9123-related plasmids containing the sul2-strA-strB gene cluster were characterized in two environmental Escherichia coli isolates. Transposon Tn5393 was first identified on a Klebsiella pneumoniae plasmid, which also carried Tn1721, estP and umu genes responsible for antimicrobial and insecticide resistance.

Conclusions: Coresistance to streptomycin and tetracycline or chloramphenicol was found with high frequency. p9123-related plasmid and Tn5393 transposon may contribute to the wide distribution and spread of the strA-strB gene pair in Jiaozhou Bay. The detection of streptomycin-resistance plasmid pQ1-1 from Jiaozhou Bay seawater bacteria and human bacterial pathogens from USA indicates its global dissemination and transmission, across different components of the microbiota on earth.

Significance and impact of the study: Streptomycin resistance can be recognized as an important bioindicator of environmental quality, owing to its association with anthropogenic pollution and the multidrug-resistant microbiota.