Real time monitoring of Aeromonas salmonicida evolution in response to successive antibiotic therapies in a commercial fish farm

• Published in: Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Du, Xiaochen, Bayliss, Sion C, Feil, Edward J, Liu, Ying, Wang, Chao, Zhang, Gang, Zhou, Dongsheng, Wei, Dawei, Tang, Na, Leclercq, Sébastien, Feng, Jie
• Other Authors: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), University of Bath Bath, Dalian Ocean University, State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Infectiologie et Santé Publique (UMR ISP), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Tours, National Key Basic Research Development Plan of China (973 Program) (grant 2015CB554202), Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (grant Z161100000116042), Shandong Province independent innovation and achievements transformation fund (grant 2014ZZCX06204), SanMing Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (No. SZSM201811071)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology; [SDV.BA.MVSA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Veterinary medicine and animal Health; Salmo salar
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02629123; https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14531

International audience Our ability to predict evolutionary trajectories of pathogens in response to antibiotic pressure is one of the promising leverage to fight against the present antibiotic resistance worldwide crisis. Yet, few studies tackled this question in situ at the outbreak level, due to the difficulty to link a given pathogenic clone evolution with its precise antibiotic exposure over time. In this study, we monitored the real-time evolution of an Aeromonas salmonicida clone in response to successive antibiotic and vaccine therapies in a commercial fish farm. The clone was responsible for a four-year outbreak of furunculosis within a Recirculating Aquaculture System salmo salar farm in China, and we reconstructed the precise tempo of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) acquisition events during this period. The resistance profile provided by the acquired MGEs closely mirrored the antibiotics used to treat the outbreak, and we evidenced that two sub-clonal groups developed similar resistances though unrelated MGE acquisitions. Finally, we also demonstrated the efficiency of vaccination in outbreak management and its positive effect on antibiotic resistance prevalence. Our study provides unprecedented knowledge critical to understand evolutionary trajectories of resistant pathogens outside the laboratory. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.