ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1586811
This article is part of the Research TopicBioinformatics approaches to investigate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in human, animal and environmentView all 15 articles
| P a g e Uncovering antibiotic resistance: Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Dipteran flies in residential dumping and livestock environments
Provisionally accepted
- 1North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
- 2Centre for Applied Food Safety and Biotechnology, Department of Life Sciences, Central University of Technology, 1 Park Road, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa., Bloemfontein, South Africa
- 3Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Agricultural Research Council of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa poses challenges in clinical and environmental contexts due to its capacity to colonize natural ecosystems and antibiotic resistance. This study characterized P. aeruginosa harboured by Diptera flies collected from illegal residential dumping sites and livestock (cattle, sheep, and goats) kraals in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The P. aeruginosa isolates were characterized using classical microbiological tests and species-specific gyrase B gene PCR assay. Antibiotic resistance (AR) was assessed on the isolates using disc diffusion assay (DDA). Additionally, PCR screened six virulence genes (exoS, plcN, plcH, toxA, lasB, and algD) among the isolates. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was employed to confirm the identity and determine antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) on selected isolates. Culture-based and molecular assays showed that P. aeruginosa is prevalent in Diptera flies (Hemipyrellia spp., Synthesiomya spp., Chrysomya spp., Sarchophagidae spp., and Tabanus spp.) from livestock kraals (75%; n = 36/48) and dumping sites (48%; n = 23/48). The most detected virulent gene among the isolates was exoS (96.6%), followed by plcN and algD genes (83.1%), lasB (81.4%), toxA (76.3%), and plcH (47.5%). All P. aeruginosa isolates were resistant to metronidazole, sulphamethoxazole, cefazolin and amoxicillin based on DDA. The sulfonamide resistance sulI gene (88.1%) was the most detected ARG from the P. aeruginosa isolates, followed by acc(3)-IV (80.6%) coding for aminoglycoside. WGS revealed that P. aeruginosa isolates belonging to the sequence type (ST3808), which is multidrug-resistant and contains ARGs for fosfomycin (fosA), ampicillin (blaOXA-50), chloramphenicol (catB7), beta-lactamase (blaPAO), and aminoglycoside (aph(3')-IIb). This study isolated ESBL-producing P. aeruginosa from various Diptera fly species collected from livestock kraals and residential dumping sites. This bacterium is important to "One Health" due to its multidrug resistance character and zoonotic nature. As a result, it requires consolidated control and management policies from the environmental, veterinary, and human health sectors.
Keywords: Diptera flies, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, antibiotic resistance, virulence genes, WGS
Received: 03 Mar 2025; Accepted: 16 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ramatla, de Wet, Matle, Thekisoe and Lekota. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tsepo Ramatla, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
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