Co-occurrence of Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence Genes on
Diverse Mobilomes in Dairy Farm Waste Escherichia coli: a
Genomic Analysis
Muhammad Shoaib1,2,#,*, Nishant Shah2,#, Asim
Munir2, Muhammad Shafiq3, Minjia Tang1,
Xuejing Zhang1, Zhongyong Wu1, Zhuolin He1,
Baocheng Hao1, Shengyi Wang1 and Wanxia Pu1,*
1Key
Laboratory of New Animal Drug Project, Gansu Province/Key Laboratory
of Veterinary Pharmaceutical Development, Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Affairs/Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical
Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou
730050, China;
2Jiangsu
Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal
Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, College of Veterinary Medicine,
Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China;
3Department
of Clinical Pharmacy, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou
515041, China.
#These
authors contributed equally to this study.
Dairy farms waste carries multiple bacterial species particularly
Escherichia coli, a potential
reservoir and disseminator of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and
virulence genes (VGs) through mobilomes. We performed whole-genome sequencing
and bioinformatics analysis on 64 multidrug-resistant E. coli isolates
from dairy farm waste in Gansu, China, to characterize and predict the
co-occurrence of ARGs and VGs on mobilomes. Bioinformatics
analysis revealed that key ARGs (sul2, rmtB, blaTEM-1)
and VGs (traT, iutA) were predominantly plasmid-associated.
Notably, a single Tn2 transposon carrying co-localized blaTEM-1
(ARG) and clpK (VG) is direct evidence of convergence on mobile
element. Prophage regions and genomic islands were also rich reservoirs, with ompT (VG)
and emrE (ARG) found in 62.5% and 45.3% of isolates, respectively,
within the prophage regions. Similarly,
fimH (VG) and rsmA (ARG) genes
were predominantly identified in 64.1% and 48.4% isolates within the genomic
island regions. The convergence of ARGs and VGs associated on diverse mobilomes
indicate their potential of dissemination within and between the bacterial
pathogens of animal and human significance. Further,
our findings highlight the urgent application of integrated One Health policies
to mitigate the potential risks.
To Cite This Article:
Shoaib M, Shah N, Munir A, Shafiq M, Tang M, Zhang X, Wu Z, He Z, Hao B, Wang S
and Pu W, 2026. Co-occurrence of antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes on
diverse mobilomes in dairy farm waste Escherichia coli: a genomic
analysis. Pak Vet J, 46(4): 1018-1027. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2026.074