Abstract

Maria Babetsa, Vassilios Sandalakis, Christina Vougidou, Antonios Zdragas, Afroditi Sivropoulou, Anna Psaroulaki and Loukia V. Ekateriniadou

The aim of the present work was to analyze the antibiotic resistance of Pasteurella multocida isolates from sheep, goats, cattle and pigs originated from eight different Greek prefectures, to determine the class(es) of the tet genes, to investigate any possible association with plasmids or/and chromosomes and to study the geographical distribution of the resistant isolates. Eighteen out to one hundred isolates were resistant to tetracycline with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) higher than 128 μg/ml. The tetH gene was found in thirteen (72.2%) and the tetB gene was found in four isolates (22.2%). After treatment with the restriction enzymes EcoRV, EcoRI, PstI and BspHI, the tetB gene showed a new polymorphism. Partial sequencing of the tetH and tetB genes revealed five polymorphisms in the tetB gene and two polymorphisms in the tetH gene; phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analyses were also conducted. Both tetB and tetH genes revealed patterns clearly differentiated from the rest of Pasteurella species meaning that the genes could be transferred from a non Pasteurella species. The results presented provide further knowledge and evidence of the role played by commensals as of resistance determinants.