First detection of a class 2 integron among clinical isolates of Serratia marcescens

Abstract

Serratia marcescens is a frequent nosocomial isolate and is associated with a variety of clinical sources, including blood, urine and sputum, and can cause significant infection. Infections can be difficult to treat due to its resistance to a variety of antimicrobial agents. An investigation of a population of 30 clinical strains revealed the presence of a class 2 integron among nine of the isolates, which represents the first isolation of this integron in Serratia species. This integron contained the gene cassettes dfrA1, sat1 and aadA1, conferring resistance to trimethoprim, streptothricin and streptomycin/ spectinomycin, respectively. One of these isolates also carried a class 1 integron identified by sequence analysis as containing the open reading frames aacC1 (encoding gentamicin resistance), ORFX, ORFY and aadA1. Polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed the presence of the qac epsilon delta1 and sul1 markers, which are common among class 1 integrons.

Emergence of resistance to antibacterial agents: the role of quaternary ammonium compounds—a critical review

“…Some genes encoding QAC resistance may be found on large, transmissible plasmids (resistance plasmids) carrying determinants on integrons conferring resistance to different antimicrobials and QACs [68,[89][90][91]. For example, in Enterobacteriaceae, a class 1 integron was identified that carried qacE, qacF, qacG and qacH [63] in association with other antibiotic resistance genes.…”

Role of integrons in antimicrobial resistance: A review

“…In Serratia marcescens, 9 out of 30 (30.0%) were positive for class 2 integron, with identical dfrA1-sat1-aadA1 cassette arrays (Crowley, 2008). Also, class 2 integron had been occasionally reported in Pasteurella aerogenes (One porcine Pasteurella aerogenes strain 343) (Schwarz et al, 2010).…”

“…In Canada, 6 out of 54 strains of Salmonella spp. isolated from healthy swine contained class 2 integron with dfrA1-sat1-aadA1 cassette arrays (Crowley, 2008;San Martin et al, 2008). In Japan, 94 Salmonella strains isolated from animals were characterized for antibiotic resistance, of which 4 (4.3%) isolates of S. Enteritidis sampled from poultry were found to contain class 2 integron with arrays of estX-sat2-aadA1 (Ahmed et al, 2009).…”

A mobile genetic element in Serratia marcescens, a causative agent of onion disease

“…marcescens is also known as an opportunistic pathogen which is responsible for an increasing number of serious nosocomial infections and colonization of hospital wards [9]. Antibiotic resistance in S. marcescens is coded by genes which often located in plasmids and integrons [10]. The purpose of this study was to characterize mobile genetic elements of a causative agent of onion decay isolated in South of Ukraine.…”

“…PCR development. Primers a79F and a79R [13], and primers YV1 and YV4, which were designed from the 16S rRNA gene region of the S. marcescens genome [14], pA and pH described by [10] were used in a PCR. Bacteria grown in broth were washed once with 0.5 M NaCl, re-suspended in distilled water, and 1 ml suspension was used as a template.…”