ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE IN LACTIC ACID BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM FERMENTED DAIRY PRODUCTS AND BOZA

Abstract

In this study, the resistance of 83 strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Turkish cheese, yogurt, kefir and boza samples to 6 antibiotics (gentamicin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, vancomycin and ciprofloxacin) was evaluated. The 83 isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and according to BLAST comparisons with sequences in the data banks, those strains showing the highest similarities with the isolates were Enterococcus faecium (10), Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis (10), Lactobacillus fermentum (6), Lactobacillus plantarum (6), Lactobacillus coryniformis (7), Lactobacillus casei (13), Leuconostoc mesenteroides (14), Pediococcus pentosaceus (10), Weisella confusa (7). Antimicrobial resistance of strains to 6 antibiotics was determined using the agar dilution method. The antibiotic resistance among all the isolates was detected against chloramphenicol (31,3 % of the isolates), tetracycline (30,1 %), erythromycin (2,4 %), ciprofloxacin (2,41%), vancomycin (73,5 %, intrinsic resistance). Overall 19,3 % of the isolates showed resistance against multiple antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance genes were studied by PCR and the following genes were detected; tet(M) gene in Lactobacillus fermentum (1), Lactobacillus plantarum (1), Pediococcus pentosaceus (5), Enterococcus faecium (2), Weisella confusa (4) and the vancomycin resistance gene van(A) in one Weisella confusa strain.