Abstract
Drug resistance in microorganisms is an emerging phenomenon that poses challenges to public health and treatment. The reservoir of drug resistance genes found in the resistome of environmental isolates in aquatic saline systems has been augmenting continuously. The spread of drug resistance is attributed to the dissemination of drug resistant pathogens occurring in sewage and wastewater released in the marine environments like seas. Halophiles are salt loving organisms that are found naturally in these marine environments, sea water, salterns and lakes. The present study aimed at investigation of the antibiotic resistance profile of halophiles isolated from marine ecosystems of the coastal Maharashtra, India using disk diffusion method. The plausible mechanism of drug resistance in the marine halophiles was investigated by detecting plasmids and antibiotic efflux pumps using EtBr-Cart wheel assay. The haloarchaea, Haloarcula sp. RR14 and Halovivax sp. RT5 showed multidrug resistance and presence of efflux pumps (MICEtBr= 0.5 µg/ml). The resistance of gram positive halophiles was in following order: Salimicrobium salexigens RR5>Salimicrobium flavidumRR2>Alkalibacillus almallahensis RR3. Amongst gram negative halophiles, their resistance was in following order: Halomonas smyrnensis RR7>Halomonas koreensis RR1>Marinobacter oulmenensis RR6. Plasmids were detected in Haloarcula sp., Halomonas sp. and Marinobacter sp. The present study related to antibiotic resistance of halophiles from marine environment is significant as some of the marine halophilic isolates like Halomonas sp. have been reported as potential pathogens in recent times.
Highlights
The emergence of drug resistance has increased in recent times challenging the line of treatment used for diseases
In the present investigation, halophiles previously isolated from sea water of the Arabian sea, lining the Sindhudurg district in coastal Maharashtra, India were screened for the occurrence of antibiotic resistance characteristics
Microbial strains and culture conditions The halophilic bacteria and archaea were isolated in the laboratory using enrichment culture technique from marine samples collected from West Coast of Maharashtra, India as described previously (Thombre and Oke, 2015, Digaskar et al, 2014).The medium used for growth of the halophilic bacteria and archaea was Sehgal and Gibbons (SG) medium supplemented with 15 % NaCl
Summary
The emergence of drug resistance has increased in recent times challenging the line of treatment used for diseases. A reservoir of drug resistance genes has been accumulating in non-pathogenic environmental microorganisms found in coastal seas, estuarine environments and deep ocean water (Vaidya 2011; Da Costa et al, 2013). Halophiles are found in aquatic systems, salterns, salt lakes, marshes and have been isolated from low salinity environments like sea water (Thombre and Oke. 2015) and hypersaline environments like saltern brines (Digaskar et al, 2014). The occurrence of drug resistance in bacterial inhabitants of sea water and oceans is increasing because of the horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistant genes from pathogens that are disseminated in the sea via release of sewage in sea (Da Costa et al, 2013). In the present investigation, halophiles previously isolated from sea water of the Arabian sea, lining the Sindhudurg district in coastal Maharashtra, India were screened for the occurrence of antibiotic resistance characteristics
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