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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2006, p. 3069-3071, Vol. 72, No. 4
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.4.3069-3071.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SHORT REPORT

Arsenic Resistance in Campylobacter spp. Isolated from Retail Poultry Products

Amy R. Sapkota, Lance B. Price, Ellen K. Silbergeld, and Kellogg J. Schwab^*

Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, Maryland 21205

Received 22 September 2005/ Accepted 6 February 2006

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Organoarsenicals are commonly used for growth promotion in U.S. poultry production. Susceptibilities to arsenite, arsenate, and the organoarsenical roxarsone were measured in 251 Campylobacter isolates from conventional and antimicrobial-free retail poultry products. Isolates from conventional poultry products had significantly higher roxarsone MICs (z = 8.22; P < 0.0001).

Top Abstract Introduction References

 
Over 8 billion broiler chickens are produced annually in the United States (15). For the purposes of promoting growth and improving feed efficiency, broilers are fed nontherapeutic levels of antimicrobials, including arsenic, which is usually in the form of the organoarsenical compound roxarsone (4, 11). Roxarsone is added to poultry feed at concentrations ranging from 22.7 g/ton to 45.4 g/ton (9). Approximately 70% of the U.S. broiler industry utilizes roxarsone (4), and researchers have calculated that 9 x 10⁵ kg of roxarsone is excreted in poultry litter each year (5). Once roxarsone is excreted, it degrades into metabolites such as arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] (3). Since these inorganic metabolites are classified as human carcinogens, researchers have begun to investigate the fate of arsenic in poultry meat, poultry litter, soil, and water (3, 5, 6, 8, 13). However, there have been no published studies regarding the effects of roxarsone, As(III), and As(V) on important human bacterial pathogens, such as Campylobacter spp., that are prevalent in the poultry production environment.

Campylobacter spp. are gram-negative, spiral bacteria that infect most broilers by the time they reach 4 weeks of age, making the consumption of fresh chicken a major pathway of human exposure to Campylobacter spp. (2). In a previous study, the presence of DNA inserts similar to arsenic resistance genes was described for Campylobacter jejuni 81116, providing the first evidence that Campylobacter spp. could possess arsenic resistance determinants (1). However, neither the expression of arsenic resistance nor its association with roxarsone use in poultry production has been examined in Campylobacter spp. Thus, the objectives of this study were (i) to investigate whether Campylobacter spp. isolated from retail poultry products express resistance to roxarsone, As(III), and As(V) and (ii) to explore whether arsenic resistance in Campylobacter spp. is associated with roxarsone use.

Campylobacter spp. (n = 251), including C. jejuni, C. coli, and C. lari, were isolated from separate retail poultry products, using previously described methods (12). Briefly, fresh poultry products were purchased on a weekly basis from grocery stores in the Baltimore metropolitan area during the following two periods: (i) 23 February to 13 May 2003 and (ii) 21 January to 7 June 2004. One piece of poultry was sampled from each package, transferred to a stomacher bag containing 200 ml Bolton broth amended with laked horse blood (Oxoid, Ogdensburg, NY; Quad Five, Ryegate, MT), shaken by hand for 2 min, and removed, while the remaining enrichment was incubated for 22 to 26 h at 42°C under microaerophilic conditions. Ten microliters of each enrichment was streaked onto Abeyta-Hunt agar and incubated for 22 to 26 h at 42°C under microaerophilic conditions. A single presumptive Campylobacter colony was then streaked and purified on Campylobacter blood agar (Fisher Scientific, Hampton, NH). Each presumptive Campylobacter isolate was confirmed and identified to the species level, using a PCR and restriction digestion protocol as previously described (12). One hundred sixty-two isolates were from fresh retail poultry produced by the following conventional producers: Tyson Foods (Springdale, AR), Perdue Farms (Salisbury, MD), Wampler Foods (Dallas, TX), Trader Joe's (Los Angeles, CA), Allen Family Foods (Seaford, DE), and Goldkist Farms (Atlanta, GA). Eighty-nine isolates were from fresh retail poultry produced by the following three producers that claim not to use antimicrobials (including roxarsone): Bell & Evans (Fredericksburg, PA), Eberly Poultry (Stevens, PA), and Murray's Chicken (South Fallsburg, NY).

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for roxarsone (4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid; Acros Organics, NJ), As(III) (NaAsO₂; Sigma, St. Louis, MO), and As(V) (Na₂HAsO₄ · 7H₂O; Sigma, St. Louis, MO) was performed using the MIC agar dilution method (10). Briefly, each isolate was suspended in 3 ml Mueller-Hinton broth, adjusted to a 0.5 McFarland standard using a Vitek colorimeter (Hach, Loveland, CO), and replicated using a Cathra replicator system (Oxoid Inc., Ogdensburg, NY) onto Mueller-Hinton agar plates with 5% sheep blood that were previously prepared with the appropriate concentrations of arsenicals. Plates were incubated under microaerophilic conditions at 42°C for 24 h. The MIC was recorded as the lowest concentration of arsenical that completely inhibited bacterial growth. Although no quality control ranges exist for arsenical antimicrobials, the quality control strain C. jejuni ATCC 33560 was used to examine the precision of the method in determining arsenical MICs. Concentrations of arsenicals tested ranged from 0.25 µg/ml to 512 µg/ml (9.5 x 10^–4 mM to 1.95 mM) roxarsone, 0.5 µg/ml to 512 µg/ml (3.8 x 10^–3 mM to 3.94 mM) As(III), and 16 µg/ml to 2048 µg/ml (5.1 x 10^–2 mM to 6.56 mM) As(V).

Two-sample Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to determine whether patterns of resistance to roxarsone, arsenite, and arsenate were significantly different between Campylobacter spp. from conventional poultry products and Campylobacter spp. from antimicrobial-free poultry products. z scores and P values were calculated for each test, and all analyses were performed using Stata 7.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX).

All Campylobacter isolates from retail poultry products expressed some degree of phenotypic resistance to roxarsone, As(III), and As(V) (Table 1). Statistical analyses indicated that Campylobacter spp. isolated from conventional poultry products had significantly higher roxarsone MICs than Campylobacter spp. isolated from antimicrobial-free poultry products (z = 8.22; P < 0.0001) (Fig. 1). These results provide the first evidence that roxarsone use in conventional poultry facilities could be associated with the development of high-level roxarsone resistance in Campylobacter spp. present in poultry. There were no statistically significant differences in As(III) MICs (z = 0.26; P value = 0.80) and As(V) MICs (z = 1.14; P value = 0.25) between isolates from conventional poultry products and isolates from antimicrobial-free poultry products.

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TABLE 1. Roxarsone, arsenite, and arsenate MICs (µg/ml) for Campylobacter spp. isolated from conventional and antimicrobial-free poultry products

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FIG. 1. Distributions of roxarsone MICs among Campylobacter spp. isolated from conventional poultry products (n = 162) and Campylobacter spp. isolated from antimicrobial-free poultry products (n = 89). Statistical differences in roxarsone MICs between the two groups were determined by the Wilcoxon rank sum test (z = 8.22; P < 0.0001).

These findings are the first report of phenotypic arsenic resistance in Campylobacter spp. They also provide evidence that nonantibiotic antimicrobials added to poultry feed may contribute to the changing ecology of bacterial pathogens present in poultry environments. Although this study included poultry products collected from grocery stores in a limited geographical area, the results are likely generalizable to other areas because the brands tested in this study are widely distributed in the United States. However, additional questions remain. While Campylobacter spp. from conventional poultry products had significantly higher roxarsone MICs, there were no significant differences in As(III) and As(V) MICs between isolates from conventional and antimicrobial-free poultry products. This may indicate that different resistance mechanisms exist for different arsenical compounds. Roxarsone resistance mechanisms could result from the unique selective pressures arising from the use of organoarsenicals within the industrial animal production environment. In contrast, since As(III) and As(V) occur naturally, originating from geochemical sources (14), it is possible that As(III) and As(V) resistance mechanisms in Campylobacter spp. could be similar to those mechanisms reported for other gram-negative bacteria (14), which evolved long before the advent of industrial poultry production.

Another important question concerns whether arsenic resistance determinants could be linked to antibiotic resistance determinants, similar to the genetic linkages observed between copper, macrolide, and glycopeptide resistance genes in Enterococcus faecium (7). If this is true, then the use of roxarsone in conventional poultry production environments could select for antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter spp. even in the absence of antibiotic use. In addition, it would be valuable to understand whether arsenic resistance determinants in Campylobacter spp. are genetically linked to other genes, including flagellin genes, virulence-associated genes, and genes for other factors that could aid in the invasion and colonization of Campylobacter spp. in chickens and humans. In a study by Ahmed et al., where genetic differences were evaluated among Campylobacter jejuni strains with various colonization potentials, two arsenic resistance-like inserts were found among a group of 24 inserts present in strain 81116, which proved to be a better colonizer than a strain that lacked the inserts (1). Thus, we echo their suggestion that the role of arsenic resistance genes in the colonization of chickens and humans by Campylobacter spp. deserves further examination. These and other questions will require future studies for a full understanding of the potential ecological and public health effects associated with arsenic resistance in Campylobacter spp. originating from poultry production environments.

 
We thank Rocio Vailes for completing a large proportion of the antimicrobial susceptibility testing and Elizabeth Johnson for statistical advice.

We thank the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for funding this study. A.R.S. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow. L.B.P. is a Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future predoctoral fellow.

 
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., Room E6620, Baltimore, MD 21205-2103. Phone: (410) 614-5753. Fax: (443) 287-3560. E-mail: kschwab{at}jhsph.edu.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2006, p. 3069-3071, Vol. 72, No. 4
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.4.3069-3071.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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• Scupham, A. J. (2009). Campylobacter Colonization of the Turkey Intestine in the Context of Microbial Community Development. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 3564-3571 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Jones, F. T. (2007). A Broad View of Arsenic. Poult. Sci. 86: 2-14 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Abstract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sapkota, A. R. Articles by Schwab, K. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sapkota, A. R. Articles by Schwab, K. J. Agricola Articles by Sapkota, A. R. Articles by Schwab, K. J.