Biocide tolerant Listeria monocytogenes isolates from German food production plants do not show cross-resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics.

Biocide tolerant Listeria monocytogenes isolates from German food production plants do not show cross-resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2019 Aug 02;: Authors: Roedel A, Dieckmann R, Brendebach H, Hammerl JA, Kleta S, Noll M, Al Dahouk S, Vincze S Abstract Contamination of food during processing is recognized as main transmission route of Listeria (L.) monocytogenes To prevent microbial contamination, biocides are widely applied as disinfectants in food processing plants. However, there are concerns about the development of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens due to widespread biocide usage.In our study, 93 L. monocytogenes isolates from German food production facilities were i) tested for biocide and antibiotic susceptibility using broth microdilution assays, ii) analyzed for links between reduced biocide susceptibility and antibiotic resistance, and iii) characterized by whole-genome sequencing including the detection of genes encoding for biocide tolerance, antibiotic resistance, and other virulence factors. Fifteen L. monocytogenes isolates were tolerant to benzalkonium chloride (BAC) and genes conferring BAC tolerance were found in 13 of them. Antibiotic resistance was not associated with biocide tolerance. BAC tolerant isolates were assigned to 6 MLST clonal complexes and most of them harbored internalin A pseudogenes with premature stop codons or deletions (n=9).Our study demonst...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research