Diversity of P1 phage-like elements in multidrug resistant Escherichia coli

• Published in: Scientific reports 2019-12, Vol.9 (1), p.18861-10, Article 18861
• Main Authors: Venturini, Carola, Zingali, Tiziana, Wyrsch, Ethan R., Bowring, Bethany, Iredell, Jonathan, Partridge, Sally R., Djordjevic, Steven P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 45; 45/22; 45/23; 45/29; 45/77; 631/326/1321; 631/326/22/1434; Animals; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacteriophage P1 - genetics; Coliphages - genetics; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial - genetics; E coli; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - physiology; Genetic Variation; Genome, Bacterial; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; multidisciplinary; Multidrug resistance; Multidrug resistant organisms; Phages; Plasmids; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sequence Analysis, DNA; Swine
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54895-4

The spread of multidrug resistance via mobile genetic elements is a major clinical and veterinary concern. Pathogenic Escherichia coli harbour antibiotic resistance and virulence genes mainly on plasmids, but also bacteriophages and hybrid phage-like plasmids. In this study, the genomes of three E. coli phage-like plasmids, pJIE250-3 from a human E. coli clinical isolate, pSvP1 from a porcine ETEC O157 isolate, and pTZ20_1P from a porcine commensal E. coli , were sequenced (PacBio RSII), annotated and compared. All three elements are coliphage P1 variants, each with unique adaptations. pJIE250-3 is a P1-derivative that has lost lytic functions and contains no accessory genes. In pTZ20_1P and pSvP1, a core P1-like genome is associated with insertion sequence-mediated acquisition of plasmid modules encoding multidrug resistance and virulence, respectively. The transfer ability of pTZ20_1P, carrying antibiotic resistance markers, was also tested and, although this element was not able to transfer by conjugation, it was able to lysogenize a commensal E. coli strain with consequent transfer of resistance. The incidence of P1-like plasmids (~7%) in our E. coli collections correlated well with that in public databases. This study highlights the need to investigate the contribution of phage-like plasmids to the successful spread of antibiotic resistant pathotypes.