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Ben Hassena A, Haendiges J, Zormati S, Guermazi S, Gdoura R, Gonzalez-Escalona N, Siala M. Virulence and resistance genes profiles and clonal relationships of non-typhoidal food-borne Salmonella strains isolated in Tunisia by whole genome sequencing. Int J Food Microbiol 2020; 337:108941. [PMID: 33181420 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2020.108941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has made impressive progress in the field of molecular biology. Its most common application for public health is in the area of surveillance of food-borne diseases. WGS has the potential for providing a large amount of information, such as the identification of the strain type, the characterization of antibiotic resistance and virulence, and phylogeny. In our study, thirty-nine non-typhoidal Salmonella strains were isolated from diverse sources in Tunisia. Non-typhoidal Salmonella are among the most common pathogens contaminating food animals. The presence of virulence and antimicrobial resistance determinants in those strains were investigated using whole genome sequencing (WGS) and appropriate data analysis. The genomes were screened for several Salmonella virulence genes using the Virulence Factor Database VFDB. Twelve different virulence profiles, which correspond to the 12 identified serovars, were recognized. Several antimicrobial resistance genes were also detected: aac (6')-Iaa, sul1, tetA, bla-TEM and qnrS genes. Phylogenetic relationships among the strains were further assessed by a cgMLST analysis. The resulting phylogenetic tree consisted of several clusters consistently with the in silico multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and serotyping. Our findings demonstrated that WGS and subsequent data analysis provided an accurate tool for genetic characterization of bacterial strains compared to usual molecular typing techniques. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an application of WGS for genetic characterization of food-borne Tunisian strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amal Ben Hassena
- Department of Life Sciences, Research Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology-Microbiology and Health (LR17ES06), Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Julie Haendiges
- Division of Microbiology, Office of Regulatory Science, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Sonia Zormati
- Regional Center of Veterinary research of Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Sonda Guermazi
- Department of Life Sciences, Research Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology-Microbiology and Health (LR17ES06), Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Radhouane Gdoura
- Department of Life Sciences, Research Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology-Microbiology and Health (LR17ES06), Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
| | - Narjol Gonzalez-Escalona
- Division of Microbiology, Office of Regulatory Science, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Mariam Siala
- Department of Life Sciences, Research Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology-Microbiology and Health (LR17ES06), Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia; Department of Biology, Preparatory Institute for Engineering Studies of Sfax, University of Sfax, Tunisia.
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