Abstract
One of the main public health problems nowadays is the increase of antimicrobial resistance, both in the hospital environment and outside it (animal environment, food and aquatic ecosystems, among others). It is necessary to investigate the virulence-associated factors and the ability of horizontal gene transfer among bacteria for a better understanding of the pathogenicity and the mechanisms of dissemination of resistant bacteria. Therefore, the objective of this work was to detect several virulence factors genes (fimA, papC, papG III, cnf1, hlyA and aer) and to determine the conjugative capacity in a wide collection of extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing E. coli isolated from different sources (human, food, farms, rivers, and wastewater treatment plants). Regarding virulence genes, fimA, papC, and aer were distributed throughout all the studied environments, papG III was mostly related to clinical strains and wastewater is a route of dissemination for cnf1 and hlyA. Strains isolated from aquatic environments showed an average conjugation frequencies of 1.15 × 10−1 ± 5 × 10−1, being significantly higher than those observed in strains isolated from farms and food (p < 0.05), with frequencies of 1.53 × 10−4 ± 2.85 × 10−4 and 9.61 × 10−4 ± 1.96 × 10−3, respectively. The reported data suggest the importance that the aquatic environment (especially WWTPs) acquires for the exchange of genes and the dispersion of resistance. Therefore, specific surveillance programs of AMR indicators in wastewaters from animal or human origin are needed, in order to apply sanitation measures to reduce the burden of resistant bacteria arriving to risky environments as WWTPs.
Highlights
E. coli is one of the main causative agents of gastrointestinal and extra intestinal infections
Resistance to antibiotics can occur by different processes, like the acquisitions of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) via horizontal gene transfer (HGT)
The objective of the present study was to (i) determine the virulence gene profiles and (ii) to determine the ability of horizontal gene transfer in a selection of ESBL-producing E. coli strains in order to a achieve a better understanding of the antibiotic resistance dissemination
Summary
E. coli is one of the main causative agents of gastrointestinal and extra intestinal infections. This ubiquitous organism is a major element of the normal commensal microbiota in the human and animal intestinal tract and it has been found in soil, food, water, and vegetation [1]. It has been reported that E. coli obtains antimicrobial resistance faster than other microorganisms [4]. It is especially relevant regarding the increase of β-lactam resistance in E. coli due to the production of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL). Mobile Genetics Elements (MGSs) are able to spread ESBL associated genes by horizontal transfer to others Gram-negative bacteria [5]
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