AUTHOR=Wu Dan , Luo Runbo , Gong Ga , Zhang Lihong , Huang Jiaqi , Cai Chongzhen , Li Yupeng , Irshad Irfan , Song Rende , Suolang Sizhu 

TITLE=Antimicrobial susceptibility and multilocus sequence typing of Clostridium perfringens isolated from yaks in Qinghai-Tibet plateau, China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.1022215

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2022.1022215

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens)</italic> is an opportunistic pathogen that cause necrotic enteritis, food poisoning and even death in animals. In this study, we explored the prevalence, antibiotic resistance and genetic diversity of <italic>Clostridium perfringens</italic> isolated from yak in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, China. A total of 744 yak fecal samples were collected and assessed for toxin genes, antimicrobial susceptibility and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Results indicated that 144 out of 744 (19.35%) yak fecal samples were tested to be positive for <italic>C. perfringens</italic>, 75% (<italic>n</italic> = 108, 108/144) were <italic>C. perfringens</italic> type A, 17.36% (<italic>n</italic> = 25, 25/144) were <italic>C. perfringens</italic> type C, 2.78% (<italic>n</italic> = 4, 4/144) were <italic>C. perfringens</italic> type D, and 4.86% (<italic>n</italic> = 7, 7/144) were <italic>C. perfringens</italic> type F. In addition, 2.78% (<italic>n</italic> = 4, 4/144) of the isolates were positive for <italic>cpb2</italic> toxin gene. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that 98.61% (142/144) of the isolates showed multiple-antibiotic resistance. According to MLST and phylogenetic tree, 144 yak-derived <italic>C. perfringens</italic> isolates had an average of 12.95 alleles and could be divided into 89 sequence types (STs) and clustered in 11 clonal complexes (CCs). The most of isolates belong to type A with a considerable genetic diversity, having Simpson index up to 0.9754. MLST and phylogenetic analysis showed that the isolates under the same clade came from multiple regions. Cross-transmission among isolates and interconnectedness were observed in the genetic evolution. According to the study, the most of the isolates exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial resistance, diverse alleles, and multiple lethal toxin genes of <italic>C. perfringens</italic>.</p>