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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2009, p. 3146-3152, Vol. 75, No. 10
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02471-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Marker Genes between Lactic Acid Bacteria in Model Rumen and Plant Environments{triangledown}

Niamh Toomey,1 Áine Monaghan,1 Séamus Fanning,2 and Declan Bolton1*

Department of Food Safety, Ashtown Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland,1 Centres for Food Safety & Food-borne Zoonomics, UCD Veterinary Sciences Centre, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland2

Received 28 October 2008/ Accepted 23 February 2009

Three wild-type dairy isolates of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and one Lactococcus lactis control strain were analyzed for their ability to transfer antibiotic resistance determinants (plasmid or transposon located) to two LAB recipients using both in vitro methods and in vivo models. In vitro transfer experiments were carried out with the donors and recipients using the filter mating method. In vivo mating examined transfer in two natural environments, a rumen model and an alfalfa sprout model. All transconjugants were confirmed by Etest, PCR, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and Southern blotting. The in vitro filter mating method demonstrated high transfer frequencies between all LAB pairs, ranging from 1.8 x 10–5 to 2.2 x 10–2 transconjugants per recipient. Transconjugants were detected in the rumen model for all mating pairs tested; however, the frequencies of transfer were low and inconsistent over 48 h (ranging from 1.0 x 10–9 to 8.0 x 10–6 transconjugants per recipient). The plant model provided an environment that appeared to promote comparatively higher transfer frequencies between all LAB pairs tested over the 9-day period (transfer frequencies ranged from 4.7 x 10–4 to 3.9 x 10–1 transconjugants per recipient). In our test models, dairy cultures of LAB can act as a source of mobile genetic elements encoding antibiotic resistance that can spread to other LAB. This observation could have food safety and public health implications.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Food Safety, Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland. Phone: (353) 1 8059539. Fax: (353) 1 8059550. E-mail: declan.bolton{at}teagasc.ie

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 6 March 2009.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2009, p. 3146-3152, Vol. 75, No. 10
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02471-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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