PLASMID PROFILING AND CURING OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANT ESCHERICHIA COLI RECOVERED FROM RETAIL CHICKEN MEAT Authors: M. Gohar, A. A. Sheikh, A. A. Anjum, T. Hussain, J. Muhammad, A. Tabbassum, A. Kanwal, I. Safdar Journal: Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences (JAPS) ISSN: 1018-7081 (Print), 2309-8694 (Online) Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Pages: 984-988 Year: 2015 DOI: NA URL: https://doi.org/NA Publisher: Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum Abstract:

Confirmed E. coli (n = 25) were analyzed for the presence of plasmids and cured using temperature and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) treatments. Plasmid profiling of the isolates showed that 96 % isolates were harboring plasmids of varying size and number. The average plasmid number among the isolates was 2.28, ranging from 0 – 5 plasmids per isolate and plasmid size varied from 100bp – 12kb which was distributed randomly in these isolates. Statistically no significant correlation (p>0.05) was found between antibiotic resistance and plasmid profiles. Plasmid curing study showed 3.9% and 16.7% curing efficiency with that of temperature and SDS treatment, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that resistant isolates, treated with either physical or chemical treatments produced significant results (p<0.05) of plasmid curing. Antimicrobial resistance genes might be located on plasmid and statistically no relationship was observed between antibiotic resistance and plasmid profiles.

Keywords: Plasmid profiles, plasmid curing, E. coli, antibiotic resistance