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. 2020 Oct;27(10):2660-2668.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.06.002. Epub 2020 Jun 8.

Bacterial isolates harboring antibiotics and heavy-metal resistance genes co-existing with mobile genetic elements in natural aquatic water bodies

Insha Sultan  1 , Asghar Ali  1 , Firdoos A Gogry  1 , Irfan A Rather  2   3 , Jamal S M Sabir  2   3 , Qazi M R Haq  1
Affiliations

Bacterial isolates harboring antibiotics and heavy-metal resistance genes co-existing with mobile genetic elements in natural aquatic water bodies

Insha Sultan et al. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

The rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and contamination of water bodies is a serious issue that demands immense attention of scientific acumen. Here, we examined the pervasiveness of ESBL producing bacteria in Dal Lake and Wular Lake of Kashmir valley, India. Isolates were screened for antibiotic, heavy metal resistant elements, and their coexistence with mobile genetic elements. Out of two hundred one isolates screened, thirty-eight were found positive for ESBL production. Antibiotic profiling of ESBL positive isolates with 16 different drugs representing β-lactam or -non-β-lactam, exhibited multidrug resistance phenotype among 55% isolates. Molecular characterization revealed the occurrence of drug resistance determinants blaTEM, AmpC, qnrS, and heavy metal resistance genes (MRGs) merB, merP, merT, silE, silP, silS, and arsC. Furthermore, mobile genetic elements IntI, SulI, ISecp1, TN3, TN21 were also detected. Conjugation assay confirmed the transfer of different ARGs, HMRGs, and mobile elements in recipient Escherichia coli J53 AZR strain. Plasmid incompatibility studies showed blaTEM to be associated with Inc groups B/O, HI1, HI2, I1, N, FIA, and FIB. Co-occurrence of blaTEM, HMRGs, and mobile elements from the aquatic milieu of Kashmir, India has not been reported so far. From this study, the detection of the blaTEM gene in the bacteria Bacillus simplex and Brevibacterium frigoritolerans are found for the first time. Considering all the facts it becomes crucial to conduct studies in natural aquatic environments that could help depict the epidemiological situations in which the resistance mechanism might have clinical relevance.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Aquatic environment; HMRGs; Kashmir valley; Mobile elements; blaTEM.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Antimicrobial susceptibility profile of 11 blaTEM positive isolates against sixteen different antibiotics.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Multilpe antibiotic resistance (MAR) index values of bacterial isolates tested against sixteen different antibiotics reaging 0–0.68.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Heatmap of antibiotic resistant phenotype and genotypes of the seuqnces blaTEM isolates. (a). Location based heatmap. (b). Strain based heatmap.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Different sampling sites across Dal lake and Wular lake in Kashmir valley, India.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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