Escherichia coli strain:APECA2 Raw sequence reads. Escherichia coli strain:APECA2

The inevitable emergence of antimicrobial resistance in important human and animal pathogens has critically impacted modern medicine. Of those small number of agents that generally remain active against multidrug-resistant lineages of Gram-negative bacteria, the polymyxins (e.g. colistin) have until recently been considered agents of last resort. Thus, the emergence of the plasmid-mediated, enzymatic resistance determinant, MCR-1, first described in 2015 in a porcine isolate of Escherichia coli is a serious concern, globally. The mcr-1 gene encodes a phosphoethanolamine transferase, which decorates lipid A in E. coli with phosphoethanolamine. Since the enzyme was first described in China, it has now been detected on 5 continents and in multiple Enterobacteriaceae species. Avian Pathogenic E. coli (APEC) are responsible for a considerable proportion of the disease burden in commercial poultry flocks. APEC are the causative agents of colibacillosis, a major endemic disease. MRC-1 has recently been described in an E. coli ST131 isolate, recovered from a septic broiler in Germany, highlighting the zoonotic potential of some APEC strains. Here, we describe the characterization of a colistin-resistant APEC isolate, recovered in 2016 from a broiler carcass at a veterinary pathology centre in Germany.