title: Incidence of class 1 integrons in multiple antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative copiotrophic bacteria from the River Torsa in India.
abstract: The presence of class 1 integrons in multiple-antibiotic-resistant (MAR) Gram-negative copiotrophic bacteria from the River Torsa in India was detected using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based screening method. Among 100 isolates that were resistant to at least five of the twelve antibiotics tested, 40 carried class 1 integrons, with inserted DNA regions of 0.7-3.2 kb. Carriage of integrons in strains of higher MAR index was found to be statistically significant. DNA sequencing was used to identify the genetic content of the integron-variable regions. In addition to the identification of gene cassettes dfrA1, dfrA5, dfrA7, dfrA17 and a variant of dfrA12 for trimethoprim, aac(6')-Ib for amikacin and tobramycin and aadA1 and aadA6 for streptomycin and spectinomycin resistance, a novel ORF predicted from a sequence of Morganella sp. TR 90 bearing homology with the Vibrio cholerae dfrA1 gene cassette was characterized. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the incidence and abundance of class 1 integrons in copiotrophic river water bacteria from India.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohunpur, Siliguri, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Shriparna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Ranadhir
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
mesh_terms: D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007194:India; D032023:Integrons; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D013762:Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D013762:Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase