Consumers’ preference towards healthy and novel foods dictates the production of organic unfiltered bottled vinegar that still contains acetic acid bacteria. After ingesting vinegar, the bacteria come into close contact with the human microbiota, creating the possibility of horizontal gene transfer, including genetic determinants for antibiotic resistance. Due to the global spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), we analyzed the AMR of Acetobacter and Komagataeibacter species originating mainly from vinegars. Six antibiotics from different structural groups and mechanisms of action were selected for testing. The AMR was assessed with the disk diffusion method using various growth media. Although the number of resistant strains differed among the growth media, 97.4%, 74.4%, 56.4%, and 33.3% of strains were resistant to trimethoprim, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, and chloramphenicol, respectively, on all three media. Moreover, 17.9% and 53.8% of all strains were resistant to four and three antibiotics of different antimicrobial classes, respectively. We then looked for antimicrobial resistance genes in the genome sequences of the reference strains. The most common genetic determinant potentially involved in AMR encodes an efflux pump. Since these genes pass through the gastrointestinal tract and may be transferred to human microbiota, further experiments are needed to analyze the probability of this scenario in more detail.

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The bacterial species Gluconacetobacter entanii belongs to a group of acetic acid bacteria. In 2000, it was described as a primary species of submerged spirit vinegar-producing bioreactors with a strict requirement of acetic acid, ethanol, and glucose for growth. Over the years, the type-strain of G. entanii deposited in international culture collections has lost the ability for revitalization and is thus not available any more in a culturable form. Here, we have systematically characterized phenotypic features and genomes of recently isolated G. entanii strains and compared them with characteristics of the type-strain available from published data. Using the functional annotation, genes gmhB and psp were identified as unique for G. entanii genomes among species in the clade Novacetimonas. The genome stability of G. entanii was assessed after 28 and 43 months of preculturing the strain Gluconacetobacter entanii AV429 twice a week. The strain G. entanii AV429 did not accumulate giant insertions or deletions but a few gene mutations. To unify further research into acetic acid bacteria systematics and taxonomy, we propose G. entanii AV429 as the neotype strain.