Detection and characterization of antibiotic-resistance genes in Arcanobacterium pyogenes strains from abscesses of forest musk deer

Abstract

Arcanobacterium pyogenes is commonly isolated from ruminant animals as an opportunistic pathogen that co-infects with other bacteria, normally causing surface or internal abscesses. Twenty-eight strains of A. pyogenes isolated from forest musk deer suppurative samples were identified by their 16S rRNA gene sequences, and confirmed by amplification of the pyolysinencoding gene (plo) in all isolates. The MICs of 14 commonly used antibiotics were determined by an agar dilution method. Class 1 and 2 intI genes were amplified to determine whether integrons were present in the A. pyogenes genome. Class 1 gene cassettes were detected by specific primers and analysed by sequencing. All of the strains were susceptible to most fluoroquinolone antibiotics; however, high resistance rates were observed for b-lactams and trimethoprim. A total of 18 of the isolates (64.3 %) were positive for the class 1 intI gene, and 16 (57.1 %) contained class 1 gene cassettes with the aacC, aadA1, aadA2, blaP1 and dfr2a genes. Most were present in the multi-resistant isolates, indicating a general concordance between the presence of gene cassettes and antibiotic resistance, and that the integrons have played an important role in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in this species. INTRODUCTIONForest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) are solitary ruminants encountered mainly in South-West China. The musk secreted by the deer is a traditional and precious Chinese medicine, and is also used in the manufacture of perfumes. As a result of the decreasing population size, all forest musk deer species were categorized as first-class key species of wildlife protected by Chinese legislation in 2002 (Chen et al., 2007;Guha et al., 2007;Guan et al., 2009). Artificial breeding of forest musk deer started in the 1950s, and diseases were the most significant restriction factor preventing a population increase (Lu et al., 2009). In Miyaluo Farm (Sichuan Province, China), every eight to ten forest musk deer are fed in one fold of about 200 m 2 due to the timid and leaping character of these animals, which means that they easily hurt themselves. Dyspepsia, pneumonia, metritis, urinary stones and abscesses are common diseases of forest musk deer here, and abscesses in particular have cause hundreds of deaths. Antibiotics have been used here for over 15 years, but due to the previous negligent management where drug abuse was prevalent and the dose was always on the high side, resistance has developed, meaning that many of the drugs have become useless against some of the pathogenic infections.Arcanobacterium pyogenes is considered an important opportunistic pathogen of the upper respiratory tract and in puerperal uterine infections of cattle, sheep, swine, birds, humans and many other species (Nattermann & Horsch, 1977;Queen et al., 1994;Narayanan et al., 1998;Silva et al., 2008). It was recently reclassified from the genus Actinomyces on the basis of the rRNA gene sequence (Pascual Ramos et al., 1997). The organisms enter the blood stream and interact...

Properties and antimicrobial susceptibility of Trueperella pyogenes isolated from bovine mastitis in China

“…Pyolysin (plo) is a major virulence factor, which is responsible for the lysis of host cells (Jost and Billington, 2005). The presence of the plo gene was demonstrated in all T. pyogenes strains of various origin (Silva and Lobato, 1999;Santos et al, 2010;Hijazin et al, 2011;Zhao et al, 2011). The plo gene was also detected in all of our T. pyogenes strains isolated from bovine mastitis cases.…”

Molecular polymorphism of MHC-DRB gene and genetic diversity analysis of captive forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii)

“…Among all the factors mentioned above, diseases were the most significant restriction factor preventing the population increase (Huang et al, 2016). For example, the most common disease for the captive forest musk deer in Miyaluo Farm was abscess disease, which caused more than one hundred deaths each year (Zhao et al, 2011).…”

Multiple abscesses in a pig caused by Trueperellapyogenes (Arcanobacterium pyogenes): Case report

“…pyogenes posee un amplio perfil de resistencia a antimicrobianos (9,20) . Sin embargo, los aislados en este estudio fueron susceptibles a diversos antimicrobianos incluyendo gentamicina, ampicilina, ampicilina-sulbactam, amoxicilina-ácido clavulánico y trimetoprim-sulfa, similar a la sensibilidad reportada para T. pyogenes aislada a partir de mastitis clínica (21) , sin embargo, los the skin fold of the neck, the tarsal joint of the right hind limb and underlying muscle tissue ( Figure 2).…”

“…A broad antimicrobial resistance profile had been reported in T. pyogenes (9,20) . However, the isolates in this study were susceptible to various antimicrobials including Gentamicin, Ampicillin, Sulbactam Ampicillin, Amoxicillin clavulanate and Trimethoprim Sulfa, similar to those reported in T. pyogenes isolated from clinical mastitis (21) , nevertheless, the selected antibiotic treatments appeared to be non-efficacious to treat the infection.…”