Abstract
Antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli strains have been circulating in various sectors and can be cross-transferred between them. Among pathogenic E. coli strains, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and hybrid pathogenic E. coli (HyPEC) emerged as responsible for outbreaks worldwide. As bovine are reservoir of STEC strains, these pathogens primarily spread to food products, exposing humans to risk. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize antimicrobial-resistant and potentially pathogenic E. coli strains from fecal samples of dairy cattle. In this regard, most E. coli strains (phylogenetic groups A, B1, B2, and E) were resistant to β-lactams and non-β-lactams and were classified as multidrug-resistant (MDR). Antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) related to multidrug resistance profiles were detected. Furthermore, mutations in fluoroquinolone and colistin resistance determinants were also identified, highlighting the deleterious mutation His152Gln in PmrB that may have contributed to the high level (> 64 mg/L) of colistin resistance. Virulence genes of diarrheagenic and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) pathotypes were shared among strains and even within the same strain, evidencing the presence of HyPEC (i.e., ExPEC/STEC), which were assigned as unusual B2-ST126-H3 and B1-ST3695-H31. These findings provide phenotypic and molecular data of MDR, ARGs-producing, and potentially pathogenic E. coli strains in dairy cattle, contributing to the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance and pathogens in healthy animals and alerting to potential bovine-associated zoonotic infections.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) [grant no. 2018/01890-3], the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [88882.180855/2018-01, 88887.519091/2020-00, and Finance code 001], and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [grant no. 308914/2019-8, 304905/2022-4, 130086/2021-5, 141016/2021-3, and 150712/2022-7].
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This study was supported by FAPESP [grant no. 2021/01655-7].
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J.P.R.F.: Conceptualization, Resources, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Data Curation, Writing — Original Draft, Writing — Review & Editing. M.S.R., L.D.R.S. and R.S.R.: Investigation, Methodology. E.G.S.: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervision, Investigation, Project administration, Data Curation, Writing — Original Draft, Writing — Review & Editing; Visualization. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Furlan, J.P.R., Ramos, M.S., dos Santos, L.D.R. et al. Multidrug-resistant Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and hybrid pathogenic strains of bovine origin. Vet Res Commun 47, 1907–1913 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-023-10141-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-023-10141-x