Characteristics and genetic diversity of multi-drug resistant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli isolated from bovine mastitis

A characterization of the drug resistance profiles, identification of PCR-based replicon typing, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and analysis of 46 ESBL-producing Escherichia coli from cows with mastitis are described. All multidrug-resistant isolates of various phylogenetic groups (A = 31, B1= 3, B2 = 2, D = 10) were ESBL-producers of genotypes CTX-M-15 (29), CTX-M-55 (4), CTX-M-14 (4), CTX-M-3 (1), CTX-M-1 (1), TEM (22) and SHV (8) that were found on conjugative plasmids of diverse incompatibility groups (primarily IncF). Transconjugation experiments indicated successful (100%) trans-conjugation, which was verified phenotypically and genotypically. A total of 28 sequence types (ST) were identified, with 10% of isolates being ST410, and 9 other ST that were assigned arbitrary numbers, reflecting the degree of diversity. Multilocus sequence analysis revealed two lineages, a dominant and a small lineage. Split-decomposition showed intraspecies recombination clearly contributed in genetic recombination generating genotypic diversity among the isolates, and a lack of interspecies recombination. This coherent analysis on genetic structure of multidrug-resistant pathogenic E. coli population isolated from mastitic-milk weaponized with resistance elements from a large, rapidly developing country will be a helpful contribution for epidemiology and surveillance of drug resistance patterns, and understanding their global diversity.