Genomic Analysis Reveals the Genetic Determinants Associated With Antibiotic Resistance in the Zoonotic Pathogen spp. Distributed Globally.

The genus groups 32 Gram-negative bacteria species, several being zoonotic pathogens and a major cause of human gastroenteritis worldwide. Antibiotic resistant is considered by the World Health Organization as a high priority pathogen for research and development of new antibiotics. Genetic elements related to antibiotic resistance in the classical and species, which infect humans and livestock, have been analyzed in numerous studies, mainly focused on local geographical areas. However, the presence of these resistance determinants in other species, as well as in and strains distributed globally, remains poorly studied. In this work, we analyzed the occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistance factors in 237 closed genomes available in NCBI, obtained from isolates collected worldwide, in different dates, from distinct hosts and comprising 22 species. Our data revealed 18 distinct genetic determinants, genes or point mutations in housekeeping genes, associated with resistance to antibiotics from aminoglycosides, β-lactams, fluoroquinolones, lincosamides, macrolides, phenicols or tetracyclines classes, which are differentially distributed among the species tested, on chromosomes or plasmids. Three resistance determinants, the and genes, putatively related to β-lactams resistance, as well as the (AN2) gene, putatively related to lincosamides resistance, had not been reported in ; thus, they represent novel determinants for antibiotic resistance in spp., which expands the insight on the resistome. Interestingly, we found that some of the genetic determinants associated with antibiotic resistance are species-specific; e.g., the gene and the T86V mutation in were found only in the group, whereas genes associated with aminoglycosides resistance were found only in and . Additional analyses revealed how are distributed the resistance and multidrug resistance genotypes assessed, with respect to hosts, geographical locations, and collection dates. Thus, our findings further expand the knowledge on the factors that can determine or favor the antibiotic resistance in species distributed globally, which can be useful to choose a suitable antibiotic treatment to control the zoonotic infections by these bacteria.