Phenotypic and Molecular
Analysis of Antibiotic Resistance in Lactobacilli of Poultry Origin
from Lahore, Pakistan
Nabea Saleem1, *Muhammad Nawaz1,
Aamir Ghafoor2, Aqeel Javeed3, Amina Mustafa1,
Muhammad Rizwan Yousuf4 and Imran Khan1
1Department
of Microbiology; 2University Diagnostic Lab; 3Department
of Pharmacology; 4Department of Theriogenology,
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
*Corresponding author:
muhammad.nawaz@uvas.edu.pk
Abstract
Acquired antibiotic resistance in lactobacilli poses a significant threat to
public health. This study presents phenotypic and molecular analysis of
antibiotic resistance in lactobacilli of poultry gut origin. A total of 105
Lactobacillus spp. isolates including
59 from indigenous and 46 from commercial poultry were recovered. Lactobacilli
were identified by genus specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting
16SrDNA-23S rDNA inter-spacer region. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of
different antibiotics were determined by broth micro dilution method. Antibiotic
resistance genes for erythromycin [erm(B)]
and tetracycline [tet(M)] were
amplified by PCR and sequenced for homology analysis. Antibiotic resistance
against cephradine (67.39% vs 55.93%), cefuroxime (100% vs 77.96%), erythromycin
(86.95% vs 38.98%), tetracycline (41.30% vs 32.2%), ciprofloxacin (91.30% vs
84.74%), levofloxacin (97.82% vs 81.35%) and ofloxacin (95.65% vs 88.13%) were
comparatively higher in lactobacilli of commercial poultry origin as compared to
indigenous poultry. Resistance against ampicillin was slightly higher in back
yard (49.15%) as compared to commercial poultry (43.47%). Overall, a high level
resistance against cefuroxime (87.61%), levofloxacin (88.57%), ofloxacin
(91.42%), ciprofloxacin (87.61%), and moderate level resistance against
cephradine (60.95%), ampicillin (46.66%), tetracycline (36.19%) and erythromycin
(60%) was observed. Erythromycin and tetracycline resistant genes [erm
(B), and tet(M),
respectively] were successfully amplified from phenotypically resistant
lactobacilli. Sequencing analysis
revealed that erm(B) gene had >99% similarity with erm(B) gene of
Enterococcus faecium while
tet(M) had >99% similarity with
tet(M) of E. coli. It is concluded that lactobacilli of poultry gut
origin contain acquired antibiotic resistance and its transmission to other
bacterial strains is a significant threat to public health.
To Cite This Article: Saleem N, Nawaz M, Ghafoor A, Javeed A, Mustafa
A, Yousuf MR and Khan I, 2018. Phenotypic and molecular analysis of antibiotic
resistance in lactobacilli of poultry origin from Lahore, Pakistan. Pak Vet J,
38(4): 409-413. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2018.084