Different fosA genes were found on mobile genetic elements in Escherichia coli from wastewaters of hospitals and municipals in Turkey

Aims: The increasing number of globally established fosfomycin-resistant (FosR) Gram-negative bacteria inspired us to investigate the occurrence of FosR Enterobacterales populations (esp. E. coli) in samples of city wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and hospital sewage in Hatay, Turkey. FosR target bacteria were further characterized for their clonal relatedness, resistomes and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) to evaluate their impact on fosfomycin resistance dissemination. Methods: A total of 44 samples from raw and treated waters of WWTPs as well as of two hospitals in the Hatay province were subjected to selective cultivation for recovering FosR Enterobacterales. The presence of fosA was verified by PCR and Sanger amplicon sequencing. Detected E. coli were further evaluated against antimicrobial susceptibility-testing, macrorestriction profiling (PFGE) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Bioinformatics analysis was performed for genome subtyping (i.e., MLST, serotype), resistome/virulome determination and dissection of the genetic determinants of plasmidic fosA3/4 resistances. Results: Besides ten non-E. coli Enterobacterales, 29 E. coli were collected within this study. In silico-based subtyping revealed that E. coli isolates were assigned to six different serovars and 14 sequence types (ST), while O8:H21 and ST410 represented the major prevalent types, respectively. Fosfomycin resistance in the isolates was found to be mediated by the fosA4 (n = 18), fosA3 (n = 10) and fosA (n = 1), which are frequently associated with transmissible MGEs. Reconstruction of plasmid-associated fosA gene context revealed a linkage between the resistance cassette and IS6 (IS26 family) transposases, which might represent a major driver for the distribution of the genes and the generation of novel fosA-carrying plasmids. Conclusions: The occurrence of plasmid-mediated, transmissible FosR in E. coli from wastewater pose a foreseeable threat to One-Health. To minimize further spread of the resistances in bacterial populations associated with environmental, animal and human health further resistance monitoring and management strategies must be developed.

Automated summary

This study investigated the occurrence of fosfomycin-resistant Enterobacterales, particularly E. coli, in city wastewater treatment plants and hospital sewage in Hatay, Turkey. The isolates were characterized for their clonal relatedness, resistomes, and mobile genetic elements, revealing the potential for the dissemination of fosfomycin resistance. Plasmid-mediated, transmissible FosR in E. coli from wastewater poses a foreseeable threat to One-Health.