Canine E. coli PacBio sequences

Objectives: To determine the plasmid architecture and context of resistance genes in multi-drug resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli strains isolated from urinary tract infections in dogs.Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing were applied to assemble the complete genomes of E. coli strains associated with clinical urinary tract infections, which were either phenotypically MDR or drug susceptible.Results: This revealed that multiple distinct families of plasmids were associated with building an MDR phenotype. Plasmid-mediated AmpC (CMY-2) beta-lactamase resistance was associated with a clonal group of IncI1 plasmids that has remained stable in isolates collected up to a decade apart. Other plasmids, in particular those with an IncF replicon type, contained other resistance gene markers, so that the emergence of these MDR strains was driven by the accumulation of multiple plasmids, up to 5 replicons in specific cases.Conclusions: This study indicates that vulnerable patients, often with complex clinical histories provide a setting leading to the emergence of MDR E. coli strains in clonally distinct commensal backgrounds. While it is known that horizontally-transferred resistance supplements pathogenic strains of E. coli such as ST131, our study demonstrates that the selection of an MDR phenotype in commensal E. coli strains can result in opportunistic infections in vulnerable patient populations. These strains provide a reservoir for the onward transfer of resistance alleles into more typically pathogenic strains and provide opportunities for the coalition of resistance and virulence determinants on plasmids as evidenced by the IncF replicons characterised in this study.