Antimicrobial Resistance and Genomic Characterization ofIsolated from Pigeons in China.

Abstract

Salmonellosis is one of the important bacterial infectious diseases affecting the health of pigeons. Heretofore, the epidemiological characteristics ofin pigeon populations in China remain largely unclear. The present study investigated the antimicrobial resistance and genomic characteristics ofisolates in pigeons in different regions of China from 2022 to 2023. Thirty-twoisolates were collected and subjected to 24 different antimicrobial agents, representing nine categories. The results showed that these isolates were highly resistant to cefazolin (100%), gentamicin (100%), tobramycin (100%), and amikacin (100%). Three or more types of antimicrobial resistance were present in 90.62% of the isolates, indicating multidrug resistance. Furthermore, using whole genome sequencing technology, we analyzed the profiles of serotypes, multilocus sequence typing, virulence genes, antimicrobial resistance genes, and plasmid replicons and constructed phylogenetic genomics to determine the epidemiological correlation among these isolates. All strains belonged toTyphimurium var. Copenhagen and exhibited five antimicrobial resistance genes and more than 150virulence genes. Moreover, each isolate contained both the IncFIB(S) and IncFII(S) plasmids. In addition, phylogenetic analysis showed that all isolates were very close to each other, and isolates from the same region clustered in the same branch. Overall, our findings provide the first evidence for the epidemiological characteristics ofin pigeons of China, highlighting the importance of preventing salmonellosis in pigeons.