Genetic basis and clonal population structure of antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter jejuni isolated from broiler carcasses in Belgium

Human campylobacteriosis is the leading food-borne zoonosis in industrialized countries. This study characterized the clonal population structure, antimicrobial resistance profiles and occurrence of antimicrobial resistance determinants of a set of Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated from broiler carcasses in Belgium. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against five commonly-used antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, tetracycline, gentamicin, and erythromycin) were determined for 204 C. jejuni isolates. More than half of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin or nalidixic acid. In contrast, a lower percentage of screened isolates were resistant to gentamicin or erythromycin. C. jejuni isolates resistant to ciprofloxacin and/or nalidixic acid were screened for the substitution T86I in the quinolone resistance determining region (QRDR) of the gyrA gene, while C. jejuni isolates resistant to tetracycline were screened for the presence of the tet(O) gene. These resistance determinants were observed in most but not all resistant isolates. Regarding resistance to erythromycin, different mutations occurred in diverse genetic loci, including mutations in the 23S rRNA gene, the rplD and rplV ribosomal genes, and the intergenic region between cmeR and cmeABC. Interestingly, and contrary to previous reports, the A2075G transition mutation in the 23S rRNA gene was only found in one strain displaying a high level of resistance to erythromycin. Ultimately, molecular typing by multilocus sequence typing revealed that two sequence types (ST-824 and ST-2274) were associated to quinolones resistance by the presence of mutations in the gene gyrA (p = 0.01). In addition, ST-2274 was linked to the CIP-NAL-TET-AMR multidrug resistant phenotype. In contrast, clonal complex CC-45 was linked to increased susceptibility to the tested antibiotics. The results obtained in this study provide better understanding of the phenotypic and the molecular basis of antibiotic resistance in C. jejuni, unraveling some the mechanisms which confer antimicrobial resistance and particular clones associated to the carriage and spread of resistance genes.