AUTHOR=Ma Wan-Qing , Han Ying-Yue , Zhou Lin , Peng Wen-Qi , Mao Ling-Ya , Yang Xue , Wang Qin , Zhang Tie-Jun , Wang Hong-Ning , Lei Chang-Wei 

TITLE=Contamination of Proteus mirabilis harbouring various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes in retail meat and aquatic products from food markets in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1086800

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1086800

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Proteus mirabilis</italic> is an opportunistic pathogen frequently associated with nosocomial infection and food poisoning cases. Contamination of <italic>P. mirabilis</italic> in retail meat products may be important transmission routes for human infection with <italic>P. mirabilis</italic>. In this study a total of 89 <italic>P. mirabilis</italic> strains were isolated from 347 samples in 14 food markets in China and subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all 89 strains were divided into 81 different clones (SNPs &gt;5), indicating high genetic diversity of <italic>P. mirabilis</italic> in food markets. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that 81 (91.01%) strains displayed multidrug resistance profiles. Seventy-three different resistance genes (or variants) were found, including various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes <italic>aac(6′)-Ib-cr</italic> (77.53%), <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX-M</sub> (39.33%), <italic>fosA3</italic> (30.34%), as well as multiresistance gene <italic>cfr</italic> (4.50%), tigecycline resistance gene cluster <italic>tmexCD3-toprJ1</italic> (4.50%) and carbapenemase gene <italic>bla</italic><sub>NDM-1</sub> (1.12%). Diverse genetic elements including Tn<italic>7</italic> transposon, plasmid, SXT/R391 integrative conjugative element were associated with the horizontal transfer of <italic>cfr</italic>. <italic>tmexCD3-toprJ1</italic> and <italic>bla</italic><sub>NDM-1</sub> were located on ICE<italic>Pmi</italic>ChnJZ26 and <italic>Salmonella</italic> genomic island 1, respectively. Our study emphasized high contamination of <italic>P. mirabilis</italic> harbouring various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes in retail meat and aquatic products, which might be an important issue in terms of food safety and human health.</p>