Poster Presentation Australian Microbial Ecology 2022

Mobile genetic elements and antimicrobial resistance genes in the equine microbiome (#125)

Scott W Mitchell 1 , Robert A Moran 2 , Belinda Chapman 3 , Michelle Bull 3 , Gary Muscatello 1 , Nicholas V Coleman 1
  1. University Of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
  3. Quantal Bioscience, Carlingford, NSW, Australia

Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria is a threat to both human and animal health. We aimed to understand the impact of domestication and antimicrobial treatment on the types and numbers of resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and class 1 integrons (C1I) in the equine gut microbiome. Antibiotic-resistant faecal bacteria were isolated from wild horses, healthy farm horses, and horses undergoing veterinary treatment, and the isolates (9,083 colonies) were screened by PCR for C1I; these were found at frequencies of 9.8% (vet horses), 0.31% (farm horses), and 0.05% (wild horses). A collection of 71 unique C1I+ isolates (17 Actinobacteria and 54 Proteobacteria) was subjected to resistance profiling and genome sequencing. Farm horses yielded mostly C1I+ Actinobacteria (Rhodococcus, Micrococcus, Microbacterium, Arthrobacter, Kocuria), while vet horses primarily gave C1I+ Proteobacteria (Escherichia, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Pantoea, Acinetobacter, Leclercia, Ochrobactrum); the vet isolates had more extensive resistance and stronger PC promoters in the C1Is. In the Actinobacteria, the integrons were all mobilised by IS6100, except in Micrococcus, where a novel IS5 family element was implicated (ISMcte1). In the Proteobacteria, C1I’s were mobilised predominantly by IS26, and also associated with IS1, Tn21, TnAs1, Tn512, and a putative formaldehyde-resistance transposon (Tn7489). Several large C1I-containing plasmid contigs were retrieved; two of these (IncY and IncF) also had extensive sets of metal resistance genes, including a novel copper-resistance transposon (Tn7519). Both veterinary treatment and domestication increase the frequency of C1I’s in equine gut microflora, and each of these anthropogenic factors selects for a distinct group of integron-containing bacteria.