Association study of multiple antibiotic resistance and virulence: a strategy to assess the extent of risk posed by bacterial population in aquatic environment

  • Santosh Kumar Singh
  • Roseleen Ekka
  • Mitali Mishra
  • Harapriya Mohapatra
Article
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Abstract

The present study explored the association between multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index and virulence index to determine what percent of environmental antibiotic-resistant (eARB) bacteria could pose threat as potential pathogen. 16srRNA-based sequencing of 113 non-duplicate isolates identified majority of them to be gram negative belonging to Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Proteus, Acinetobacter, and Klebsiella. Statistical comparison of MAR indices of the abovementioned genera indicated differences in the median values among the groups (p < 0.001). Pair-wise multiple comparison by Dunn’s method indicated significant difference in MAR indices (p < 0.05), based on which multiple antibiotic resistance phenotype could be ranked in the order Pseudomonas > Klebsiella = Acinetobacter > Proteus > Aeromonas > Enterobacter. Association between MAR index and virulence index revealed that 25% of isolates in the population under study posed high threat to human/animal or both; out of which 75% isolates belonged to genus Pseudomonas. Based on observations of comparative analysis of the six gram-negative genera, it could be concluded that Pseudomonas isolates from environment pose significantly high threat as potential pathogens while Enterobacter isolates posed no threat.

Keywords

Pseudomonas Klebsiella Antibiotic resistance Virulence Opportunistic pathogen 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by intramural funds from DAE to National Institute of Science Education and Research. SKS and RE are grateful to DAE for financial support in the form of fellowship. MM acknowledges financial support from DST INSPIRE in the form of fellowship. The study design was conceived and planned by HM and executed by SKS, RE, and MM. Authors SKS and RE have equal contribution. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Santosh Kumar Singh
    • 1
  • Roseleen Ekka
    • 1
    • 2
  • Mitali Mishra
    • 1
  • Harapriya Mohapatra
    • 1
  1. 1.School of Biological SciencesNational Institute of Science Education and Research Bhubaneswar, HBNIOdishaIndia
  2. 2.Eukaryotic Gene Expression LaboratoryNational Institute of ImmunologyNew DelhiIndia

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