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Molecular investigation of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains isolated from wastewater streams in Pakistan

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Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a global public health issue and it is even more daunting in developing countries. The main objective of present study was to investigate molecular responses of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The 48 bacterial strains, which were previously isolated and identified were subjected to disc diffusion and MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) determination, followed by investigating the production of the three beta-lactamases (ESBLs (Extended-spectrum Beta-lactamases), MBLs (Metallo Beta-lactamases), AmpCs) and exploring prevalence of the two antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs); blaTEM and qnrS. Higher MIC values were observed for penicillin(s) than that for fluoroquinolones (ampicillin > amoxicillin > ofloxacin > ciprofloxacin > levofloxacin). Resistance rates were high (58–89%) for all of the tested beta-lactams. Among the tested strains, 5 were ESBL producers (4 Aeromonas spp. and 1 Escherichia sp.), 2 were MBL producers (1 Stenotrophomonas sp. and 1 Citrobacter sp.) and 3 were AmpC producers (2 Pseudomonas spp. and 1 Morganella sp.). The ARGs qnrS2 and blaTEM were detected in Aeromonas spp. and Escherichia sp. The results highlighted the role of Aeromonas as a vector. The study reports bacteria of multidrug resistance nature in the wastewater environment of Pakistan, which harbor ARGs of clinical relevance and could present a public health concern.

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Acknowledgements

The work was part of project funded by HEC, Pakistan under project “Ensuring food security: development of an integrated approach for safe usage of antibiotics containing wastewater for irrigation of crop plants” (NRPU project # 20-4155/R&D/HEC/14).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Saima Saima, Marium Fiaz, Maria Manzoor, Rabeea Zafar & Muhammad Arshad

  2. Department of Environmental Design, Health and Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Rabeea Zafar

  3. National Culture Collection of Pakistan (NCCP), Bioresource Conservation Institute (BCI), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, 45500, Pakistan

    Iftikhar Ahmed

  4. Department of Statistics, The Women University Multan, Multan, Pakistan

    Uzma Nawaz

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  1. Saima Saima
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Contributions

SS did the experimental work, MF collected the strains from wastewater, MM and RZ assisted in experimental work and preparation of the manuscript. IA, UN and MA reviewed the manuscript and improved the discussion. MA (PI) obtained research funding, supported by IA (Co-PI).

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Correspondence to Muhammad Arshad.

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Authors have no conflict of interest regarding findings and publication of this research. There are no financial competing interests relevant to the work presented here.

Accession numbers

The sequences of the ARGs (qnrS2 and blaTEM) were deposited in Genbank under the accession numbers MK359204, MN218676 and MN218677.

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Saima, S., Fiaz, M., Manzoor, M. et al. Molecular investigation of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains isolated from wastewater streams in Pakistan. 3 Biotech 10, 378 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-020-02366-3

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