title: Escherichia coli Population Structure and Antibiotic Resistance at a Buffalo/Cattle Interface in Southern Africa.
abstract: At a human/livestock/wildlife interface, Escherichia coli populations were used to assess the risk of bacterial and antibiotic resistance dissemination between hosts. We used phenotypic and genotypic characterization techniques to describe the structure and the level of antibiotic resistance of E. coli commensal populations and the resistant Enterobacteriaceae carriage of sympatric African buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) and cattle populations characterized by their contact patterns in the southern part of Hwange ecosystem in Zimbabwe. Our results (i) confirmed our assumption that buffalo and cattle share similar phylogroup profiles, dominated by B1 (44.5%) and E (29.0%) phylogroups, with some variability in A phylogroup presence (from 1.9 to 12%); (ii) identified a significant gradient of antibiotic resistance from isolated buffalo to buffalo in contact with cattle and cattle populations expressed as the Murray score among Enterobacteriaceae (0.146, 0.258, and 0.340, respectively) and as the presence of tetracycline-, trimethoprim-, and amoxicillin-resistant subdominant E. coli strains (0, 5.7, and 38%, respectively); (iii) evidenced the dissemination of tetracycline, trimethoprim, and amoxicillin resistance genes (tet, dfrA, and blaTEM-1) in 26 isolated subdominant E. coli strains between nearby buffalo and cattle populations, that led us (iv) to hypothesize the role of the human/animal interface in the dissemination of genetic material from human to cattle and toward wildlife. The study of antibiotic resistance dissemination in multihost systems and at anthropized/natural interface is necessary to better understand and mitigate its multiple threats. These results also contribute to attempts aiming at using E. coli as a tool for the identification of pathogen transmission pathway in multihost systems.
authors.affiliation: INSERM, IAME, UMR 1137, and Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|UPR AGIRs, Cirad, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Mathilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mercat
authors.affiliation: INSERM, IAME, UMR 1137, and Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Clermont
authors.affiliation: INSERM, IAME, UMR 1137, and Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|UPR AGIRs, Cirad, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Méril
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massot
authors.affiliation: INSERM, IAME, UMR 1137, and Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|APHP, Laboratoire de Bactériologie, Hôpital Bichat-Claude Bernard, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruppe
authors.affiliation: UPR AGIRs, Cirad, Montpellier, France.|UPR AGIRs, Cirad-RP-PCP, Harare, Zimbabwe.|Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Garine-Wichatitsky
authors.affiliation: UPR AGIRs, Cirad, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Eve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miguel
authors.affiliation: UPR AGIRs, Cirad-RP-PCP, Harare, Zimbabwe.|CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS/Université de Montpellier/Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier/EPHE/1919, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Valls Fox
authors.affiliation: UPR AGIRs, Cirad, Montpellier, France.|UPR AGIRs, Cirad-RP-PCP, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cornelis
authors.affiliation: INSERM, IAME, UMR 1137, and Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.|APHP, Laboratoire de Bactériologie, Hôpital Bichat-Claude Bernard, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andremont
authors.affiliation: INSERM, IAME, UMR 1137, and Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Denamur
authors.affiliation: UPR AGIRs, Cirad, Montpellier, France alexandre.caron@cirad.fr.|UPR AGIRs, Cirad-RP-PCP, Harare, Zimbabwe.|Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5213-3273
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caron
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002417:Cattle; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents