Clonal Confinement of a Highly Mobile Resistance Element Driven by Combination Therapy in Rhodococcus equi.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic use has been linked to changes in the population structure of human pathogens and the clonal expansion of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains among healthcare- and community-acquired infections. Here we present a compelling example in a veterinary pathogen, Rhodococcus equi, the causative agent of a severe pulmonary infection affecting foals worldwide. We show that the erm(46) gene responsible for emerging macrolide resistance among equine R. equi isolates in the United States is part of a 6.9-kb transposable element, TnRErm46, actively mobilized by an IS481 family transposase. TnRErm46 is carried on an 87-kb conjugative plasmid, pRErm46, transferable between R. equi strains at frequencies up to 10^-3 The erm(46) ge

SUBMITTER: Alvarez-Narvaez S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6794481 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature