Antibiotic resistance and plasmid profile of environmental isolates of Vibrio species from Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong

Yanling Wang, P. C. Leung, Pei Yuan Qian, Ji Dong Gu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, three environmental isolates of Vibrio species were isolated from water and sediment samples of Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong SAR. They were identified to be Vibrio cholerae MP-1, Vibrio aestuarianus MP-2 and Vibrio vulnificus MP-3 by both biochemical test and subsequent full-length 16S rDNA sequencing. Both disc diffusion susceptibility test and microplate dilution technique were used to investigate the antibiotic resistance profile of these three bacteria. Results from both assays were in generally good agreement. All three isolates were strongly resistant to β-lactam family of antibiotics while susceptible to tetracycline, chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid and streptomycin. In addition, V. cholerae MP-1 was very tolerant to high concentration of vibriostatic agent O/129 to 40 μg/ml, at which the growth of V. aestuarianus MP-2 and V. vulnificus MP-2 was completely inhibited. A small naturally occurring plasmid was found in V. cholerae MP-1 while no plasmid was detected in the other two bacteria. This study suggests that Mai Po Nature Reserve harbors bacteria of unique characteristics that warrant further investigation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)371-378
Number of pages8
JournalEcotoxicology
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Antibiotic resistance
  • Mai Po Nature Reserve
  • Plasmid
  • Vibrio species

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