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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2009, p. 696-702, Vol. 53, No. 2
0066-4804/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00652-07
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Prevalence of Sulfonamide Resistance Genes in Bacterial Isolates from Manured Agricultural Soils and Pig Slurry in the United Kingdom{triangledown}

K. G. Byrne-Bailey,1,{ddagger} W. H. Gaze,1 P. Kay,2,{dagger} A. B. A. Boxall,2,§ P. M. Hawkey,3 and E. M. H. Wellington1*

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7AL, United Kingdom,1 Cranfield Centre for EcoChemistry, Shardlow Hall, Shardlow, Derby, Derbyshire DE72 2GN, United Kingdom,2 Department of Immunity and Infection, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom3

Received 17 May 2007/ Returned for modification 9 September 2007/ Accepted 21 November 2008

The prevalences of three sulfonamide resistance genes, sul1, sul2, and sul3 and sulfachloropyridazine (SCP) resistance were determined in bacteria isolated from manured agricultural clay soils and slurry samples in the United Kingdom over a 2-year period. Slurry from tylosin-fed pigs amended with SCP and oxytetracycline was used for manuring. Isolates positive for sul genes were further screened for the presence of class 1 and 2 integrons. Phenotypic resistance to SCP was significantly higher in isolates from pig slurry and postapplication soil than in those from preapplication soil. Of 531 isolates, 23% carried sul1, 18% sul2, and 9% sul3 only. Two percent of isolates contained all three sul genes. Class 1 and class 2 integrons were identified in 5% and 11.7%, respectively, of sul-positive isolates. In previous reports, sul1 was linked to class 1 integrons, but in this study only 8% of sul1-positive isolates carried the intI1 gene. Sulfonamide-resistant pathogens, including Shigella flexneri, Aerococcus spp., and Acinetobacter baumannii, were identified in slurry-amended soil and soil leachate, suggesting a potential environmental reservoir. Sulfonamide resistance in Psychrobacter, Enterococcus, and Bacillus spp. is reported for the first time, and this study also provides the first description of the genotypes sul1, sul2, and sul3 outside the Enterobacteriaceae and in the soil environment.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 2476523184. Fax: 44 2476523568. E-mail: E.M.H.Wellington{at}warwick.ac.uk

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 December 2008.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.

{dagger} Present address: School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.

§ Present address: PVMG Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, United Kingdom.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2009, p. 696-702, Vol. 53, No. 2
0066-4804/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00652-07
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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