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A Highly Promiscuous Integron, Plasmids, Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases and Efflux Pumps as Factors Governing Multidrug Resistance in a Highly Drug Resistant Vibrio fluvialis Isolate BD146 from Kolkata, India

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Abstract

In an earlier study from this laboratory, Vibrio fluvialis BD146, a clinical isolate from Kolkata, India, 2002, was found to be resistant to all the fourteen antibiotics tested. It harboured a high copy number plasmid pBD146 and a low copy number plasmid. In the present study, a more detailed analysis was carried out to unravel different resistance mechanisms in this isolate. Sequencing showed that variable region of class 1 integron located on low copy number plasmid harbored arr3-cmlA-bla OXA10-aadA1 gene cassettes. Analysis for extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBLs) revealed that BD146 was ESBL positive. Efflux pumps were involved in the drug resistance phenotype for chloramphenicol, kanamycin, streptomycin and tetracycline. Sequence analysis of pBD146 revealed the presence of genes encoding BDint an integrase with a unique sequence having little similarity to other known integrases, toxin–antitoxin (parE/parD), a replicase, trimethoprim resistance (dfrVI) and quinolone resistance (qnrVC5). Presence of cmlA, putative novel integrase and toxin–antitoxin system in V. fluvialis has been documented for the first time in this report. pBD146 showed 99% sequence similarity with pVN84 from V. cholerae O1 of Vietnam, 2004 and a plasmid from V. parahaemolyticus v110 of Hong Kong, 2010. Conjugation experiments proved the ability of pBD146 and the low copy number plasmid, to get transferred to another host imparting their antibiotic resistance traits to the transconjugants. Therefore, present study has indicated that plasmids played an important role for dissemination of drug resistance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Drs. Amit Ghosh and T. Ramamurthy, NICED, Kolkata, India, for providing the Vibrio strains and for their invaluable advice and support. The authors also thankfully acknowledge The Puri Foundation for Education in India for providing infrastructure facilities. Ms. Neha Rajpara is a recipient of senior research fellowship from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India (AMR/49/11-ECDI). The technical support and advice provided by Mr. Priyabrata Mohanty and Mr. K. Vinothkumar is thankfully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Health and Diseases, Indian Institute of Advanced Research, Koba Institutional Area, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382 007, India

    Neha Rajpara & Ashima Kushwaha Bhardwaj

  2. Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, Maharaja Sayaji Rao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, 390002, India

    Neha Rajpara & Mrinalini Nair

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  1. Neha Rajpara
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Rajpara, N., Nair, M. & Bhardwaj, A.K. A Highly Promiscuous Integron, Plasmids, Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases and Efflux Pumps as Factors Governing Multidrug Resistance in a Highly Drug Resistant Vibrio fluvialis Isolate BD146 from Kolkata, India. Indian J Microbiol 58, 60–67 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-017-0687-8

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