Food-borne microbes influence conjugative transfer of antimicrobial resistance plasmids in pre-disturbed gut microbiome

Abstract

Ingestion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria following antibiotic treatments may lead to the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) within a disturbed gut microbiota. However, it remains unclear whether and how microbes present in food matrices influence ARG transfer. Thus, a previously established mouse model, which demonstrated the conjugative transfer of a multi-drug resistance plasmid (pIncA/C) from Salmonella Heidelberg (donor) to Salmonella Typhimurium (recipient), was used to assess the effects of food-borne microbes derived from fresh carrots on pIncA/C transfer. Mice were pre-treated with ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfamethazine, or left untreated as a control to facilitate bacterial colonization. Contrary to previous findings where high-density colonization of the donor and recipient bacteria occurred in the absence of food-borne microbes, the presence of these microbes resulted in a low abundance of S. Typhimurium and no detection of S. Typhimurium transconjugants in the fecal samples from any of the mice. However, in mice pre-treated with streptomycin, a significant reduction in microbial species richness allowed for the significant enrichment of Enterobacteriaceae and pIncA/C transfer to bacteria from the genera Escherichia, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, and Proteus. These findings suggest that food-borne microbes may enhance ARG dissemination by influencing the population dynamics of bacterial hosts within a pre-disturbed gut microbiome.

Keywords: Salmonella; antibiotic resistance; antibiotic treatment; gut microbiome; plasmid transfer.