FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXPRESSION OF ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE GENES ACQUIRED THROUGH CONJUGATIVE PLASMIDS IN Enterobacteriaceae

• Grant number: 24/10213-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Angelo Berchieri Junior
• Grantee: Viviane Amorim Ferreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bacterial resistance to antimicrobials is one of the greatest threats to global health, due to failures in the treatment of infections and the difficulty of finding new effective molecules. In the poultry production environment, antimicrobial residues are frequently found, which can interfere with the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of numerous microorganisms with zoonotic potential, including Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica. Salmonella serovars Typhimurium, Enteritidis, and Heidelberg demonstrated an increase in resistance after they received the IncB/O pH2332-107 plasmid through conjugation under sub-inhibitory concentrations of antimicrobials. This was verified through the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) test, which revealed values up to 16 times higher in Salmonella spp. compared to Escherichia coli after acquiring the same plasmid. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the reason for this significant increase in resistance in Salmonella spp. serovars compared to Escherichia coli through Whole Genome Sequencing and analysis, to confirm the presence of resistance genes and identify those related to the secondary resistome, as well as comparative sequence analysis and RT-qPCR, to evaluate gene expression from two bacterial genera.