Transmission ways and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in Riemerella anatipestifer

Abstract:

[Objective] Riemerella anatipestifer (RA) is a Gram-negative bacterium that mainly infects domesticated birds such as ducks and geese. The clinical isolates of RA are multi-drug resistant and increasing year by year. However, the transmission ways of antibiotic resistance genes in RA have not been identified. This study aims to identify the transmission ways and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the clinical isolates of RA. [Methods] The drug resistance phenotypes of the reference strain RA ATCC 11845 and the clinical isolates RA CH-1 and RA CH-2 to 28 antibiotics belonging to 10 categories were determined. The antibiotic resistance genes were identified by genome analysis and construction of gene deletion strains. The transmission ways of antibiotic resistance genes were identified by natural transformation. The distribution of these resistance genes in different clinical isolates was detected by PCR. [Results] RA CH-1 and RA CH-2 were resistant to β-lactams, tetracyclines, macrolides, lincosamides, and amide alcohols, while RA ATCC 11845 was sensitive to the above antibiotics. The resistant strains became sensitive to the corresponding antibiotics after the deletion of 13 resistance genes, respectively, indicating that these genes were involved in antibiotic resistance. All the resistant genes can be transferred to the sensitive strain RA ATCC 11845 by natural transformation. The detection rates of resistance genes in 100 clinical isolates from 2017 to 2023 varied within the range of 3% to 89%. [Conclusion] Antibiotic resistance genes can be transmitted in RA through natural transformation, and different antibiotic resistance genes presented varied distribution in clinical isolates, among which tetX (B739_0030) and bla_OXA (G148_1768) were carried by the most and fewest strains, respectively.