Bacterial diversity and antibiotic resistance in a wetland of Lakhimpur-Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, India

• Published in: Journal of environmental biology 2017-01, Vol.38 (1), p.55-66
• Main Authors: Mishra, Rupesh Kumar, Verma, Dev Kumar, Yadav, Manoj Kumar, Pradhan, Pravata Kumar, Swaminathan, T. Raja, Sood, Neeraj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actinobacteria; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Aquaculture; Aquatic animals; Aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic plants; Aquatic populations; Bacteria; Environmental science; Flavobacteria; Pseudomonas; Risk assessment; Sphingobacterium; Wetlands; Yersinia
• ISSN: 0254-8704; 2394-0379
• DOI: 10.22438/jeb/38/1/MS-117

Knowledge about the structure of microbial community is essential to assess the risks of exposure of farmed fish to pathogens and studying the antibiotic resistance. The present study was carried out to assess the bacterial diversity in afreshwaterecosystem. In the present study, microbial composition of a wetland in Lakhimpur-Kheri (N 27° 90.25' and E 80° 79.80'), Uttar Pradesh was assesesed employing amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA), using Haelll enzyme as well as 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Furthermore, antibiotic resistance of the bacterial isolates was determined on the basis of multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index. A total of one hundred and thirty five bacteria were isolated and the restriction analysis of amplified 16S rDNA gene of the above isolates, using Haelll enzyme, indicated that isolated bacteria belonged to 33 single member phylotypes. Molecular characterization of the isolates revealed that these phylotypes belonged to 20 genera under 6 classes viz., Gammaproteobacteria (72.59%), Betaproteobacteria (4.44%), Flavobacteria (9.63%), Bacilli (7.41%) Actinobacteria (3.70%) and Sphingobacteria (2.22%). In the present study, four species i.e. Sphingobacterium kitahiroshimense, Yersinia nurmii, Pseudomonas koreensis and Vogesella alkaliphila have been reported for the first time from a wetland. The antibiotic sensitivity test indicated that most of the isolates were sensitive to norfloxacin followed by ofloxacin, whereas, majority of these bacteria were resistant to penicillin G followed by polymyxin B. Moreover, MAR indexing revealed that amongst the 33 single member phylotypes, 17 were multiple antibiotic resistant. The bacterial diversity analysis of the wetland indicated bacterial population of aquatic, soil, animal and plant origin. Moreover, the study indicated that wetland can be a reservoir for multidrug resistant bacteria even when there is no application of antibiotics for aquaculture purposes. It can be assumed that the occurrence of antibiotic resistance and MAR among bacteria isolated from wetland could be due to flow of runoff from mainland. These results would help in strengthening our knowledge of bacterial ecology of the wetland ecosystem.