Abstract
Integrons have been observed to be frequently associated with uropathogenic bacteria. This study aimed at 1) determining the prevalence of class 1 integrons among ESBL-producing uropathogenic Escherichia coli, and 2) analyzing resistance genes associated with different phylogenetic groups of the integron-positive isolates with special reference to bla(CTX-M) and bla(TEM). Twenty-three ESBL-producing E. coli were studied: Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR (ERIC-PCR) displayed 14 major patterns. Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis-typing of 8 randomly selected integron-positive strains ruled out any correlation between genotype and antibiotype. Genomic DNA from 14 strains was PCR-positive for class 1 integrons, bla(CTX-M-15) and bla(TEM-1)-like genes. Integron-sequencing reval-ed "aadA5-dfrA17-dfrA7" as the most prevalent gene cassette. Our findings unveil the increasing role of the bla-(CTX-M) genes in antibiotic resistance and emphasize on the significance of appropriate empirical treatment for Urinary Tract Infections. Moreover, this is the first study which reports bla(CTX-M) located on genomic DNA of bacteria from India.