Identification of mcr-1 and a novel chloramphenicol resistance gene cat T on an integrative and conjugative element in an Actinobacillus strain of swine origin

The aim of this study was to characterize a mcr-1-carrying integrative and conjugative element (ICE) in a novel Pasteurellaceae-like bacteria of swine origin. The mcr-1-positive GY-402 strain, recovered from a pig fecal sample, was subjected to whole genome sequencing with the combination of Illumina Hiseq and MinION plat-forms. Genome-based taxonomy revealed that strain GY-402 exhibited highest ANI value (84.89 %) to Actino-bacillus succinogenes, which suggested that it represented a novel Actinobacillus species. Sequence analysis revealed that mcr-1 was clustered with eight other resistance genes in the MDR region of a novel ICE element, named ICEAsp1. Inverse PCR and mating assays showed that ICEAsp1 is active and transferrable. In addition, six circular forms mediated by four ISApl1 elements were detected with different inverse PCR sets, indicating that flexible composite transposons could be formed by pairwise combinations of multiple IS copies. Cloning experiment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the novel Cat protein, designated CatT, belongs to type-A family and confers resistance to chloramphenicol. In conclusion, this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of mcr-1 gene on ICE structure and also in Pasteurellaceae bacteria. The diverse composite transposons mediated by multicopy IS elements may facilitate the dissemination of different resistance genes.

Automated summary

This study characterized a mcr-1-carrying ICE in a novel Pasteurellaceae-like bacteria of swine origin. The novel ICE structure and diverse composite transposons mediated by multicopy IS elements may facilitate the dissemination of different resistance genes.