title: Clonal spread and interspecies transmission of clinically relevant ESBL-producing Escherichia coli of ST410--another successful pandemic clone?
abstract: Clinically relevant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing multi-resistant Escherichia coli have been on the rise for years. Initially restricted to mostly a clinical context, recent findings prove their prevalence in extraclinical settings independent of the original occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in the environment. To get further insights into the complex ecology of potentially clinically relevant ESBL-producing E. coli, 24 isolates from wild birds in Berlin, Germany, and 40 ESBL-producing human clinical E. coli isolates were comparatively analyzed. Isolates of ST410 occurred in both sample groups (six). In addition, three ESBL-producing E. coli isolates of ST410 from environmental dog feces and one clinical dog isolate were included. All 10 isolates were clonally analyzed showing almost identical macrorestriction patterns. They were chosen for whole-genome sequencing revealing that the whole-genome content of these 10 E. coli isolates showed a very high genetic similarity, differing by low numbers of single nucleotide polymorphisms only. This study gives initial evidence for a recent interspecies transmission of a new successful clone of ST410 E. coli between wildlife, humans, companion animals and the environment. The results underline the zoonotic potential of clinically relevant multi-resistant bacteria found in the environment as well as the mandatory nature of the 'One Health' approach.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics, Veterinary Faculty, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany katharina.schaufler@fu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schaufler
authors.affiliation: NG 1 - Microbial Genomics, Robert Koch Institute, 13302 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Semmler
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, 13302 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Lothar H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Wieler
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics, Veterinary Faculty, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wöhrmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics, Veterinary Faculty, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany Pathogen Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, 500046 Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Ramani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baddam
authors.affiliation: Pathogen Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, 500046 Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Niyaz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Small Animals, Veterinary Faculty, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Charité Universitätsklinikum, 12203 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kola
authors.affiliation: Department for Infectious Diseases, Division of Bacterial Infections and National Reference, Centre for Salmonella and other Bacterial Enteric Pathogens, Robert Koch Institute, 38855 Wernigerode, Germany.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fruth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene and Infectious Diseases of Animals, Veterinary Faculty, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ewers
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics, Veterinary Faculty, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guenther
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001483:Base Sequence; D001717:Birds / Q000382:microbiology; D004285:Dogs; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D019081:O Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D058873:Pandemics; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; C022863:H antigen; D019081:O Antigens; D001618:beta-Lactamases
keywords: ESBL-producing Escherichia coli; SNP analysis; ST410; clone; next-generation sequencing; ‘one health’ approach