Molecular Characterization of Producing Isolated in Poultry Farms in the United Arab Emirates.

Data on the prevalence of MCR-producing of animal origin are scarce from the Arabian Peninsula. We investigated the presence and variety of such strains from fecal specimens of poultry collected in four farms in the United Arab Emirates. Colonies from ten composite samples per farm grown on colistin-supplemented plates were PCR-screened for alleles of the gene. Thirty-nine isolates selected based on species, colony morphology, and plasmid profile were subjected to whole genome sequencing. The panel of their resistance and virulence genes, MLST and cgMLST were established. Transferability and incompatibility types of the MCR-plasmids were determined. positive strains were identified in 36 of the 40 samples. Thirty-four multi-drug resistant of 16 different sequence types, two , two and one were identified. Beyond various aminoglycoside, tetracycline, and co-trimoxazole resistance genes, seven of them also carried ESBL genes and one . Six IncHI2, 26 IncI2 and 4 IncX4 MCR-plasmids were mobilized, in case of the IncHI2 plasmids co-transferring ampicillin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline resistance. The diversity of positive strains suggest a complex local epidemiology calling for a coordinated surveillance including animals, retail meat and clinical cases.