Evolution of a multiple antibiotic resistance region in IncHI1 plasmids: reshaping resistance regions in situ

Objectives: To determine the structure of the resistance region in an IncHI1 plasmid conferring resistance to multiple antibiotics, including gentamicin, recovered from a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolate from a horse. Methods: Plasmids were recovered by conjugation. The plasmid type, resistance genes and their context were identified by PCR, cloning, hybridization and DNA sequencing. The sequence was compared using bioinformatic tools with available resistance region sequences. Results: In isolate SRC27, an IncI1 plasmid, pSRC27-I, conferred streptomycin resistance via the strA and strB genes contained within Tn5393a. An IncHI1 plasmid, pSRC27-H, was found to carry the aacC2 gentamicin re-sistance gene within a 34.6 kb multiple antibiotic resistance region that included nine further antibiotic resist-ance genes, aadA2, aphA1, blaTEM, catA1, dfrA12, strA and strB, sul2 and tetA(B), conferring resistance to streptomycin and spectinomycin, kanamycin and neomycin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim, strep