IncF and IncI1 type plasmids have been frequently reported worldwide in clinical CP-868596 in vivo Enterobacteriaceae, associated with the spread of resistance genes towards extended-spectrum beta-lactams, aminoglycosides and quinolones (Carattoli, 2009). In addition, the presence of IncI1 replicons has also been reported in bacteria isolated from domestic and wild animals, as well as food products (Carattoli, 2009). The presence of IncF-type and IncI1 plasmids in Aeromonas strains again highlights the importance of members of this genus as hosts of mobile genetic elements (Rhodes et al., 2000;

Sørum et al., 2003; Moura et al., 2007, 2012; Cattoir et al., 2008; Picão et al., 2008; Verner-Jeffreys et al., 2009; Kadlec et al., 2011). In addition, the common association of F-type replicons to virulence traits, such as colonization factors and toxins in E. coli (Johnson & Nolan, 2009b), as well as their presence in treated effluents, raises concern regarding the possible dissemination of

such traits to natural environments, agriculture fields and the food chain. Despite the diversity of replicons found among donor strains, 50% of plasmids remained unknown, possibly due to the type of approach used, which relied on the classification of plasmids belonging to classic Inc groups, thus failing to identify novel or divergent replicons (Carattoli, 2009). In total, plasmids from approximately 73% (41 out of 56) of the donor strains with tetracycline and/or streptomycin intermediate or resistance phenotypes transferred APO866 research buy successfully to recipient strains under the conditions tested (Table 1). Among Aeromonas spp., plasmids from 70% (28 out of 40) of donor strains transferred successfully to at least one recipient strain, of which 10% (four out of 40) generated transconjugants Loperamide with both recipient strains. Among Enterobacteriaceae, plasmids from 81.3% (13 out of 16) transferred to at least one recipient

strain, of which 18.8% (three out of 16) transferred to both recipient strains. In previous studies, transfer efficiencies ranged between 10−5 and 10−6 transconjugants per recipient cell for these Aeromonas donors, whereas among Enterobacteriaceae rates were 10−5 transconjugants per recipient cell (Moura et al., 2007, 2012). Although plasmids of narrow host range have difficulty replicating in distantly related hosts, both Aeromonas and Enterobacteriaceae strains from all stages of the treatment process, including final effluent, have generated transconjugants using E. coli and P. putida as recipient strains (Table 1). Accessory genetic modules, such as integrons, are known to be integrated among functional plasmid backbone modules. Overall, 15% (10 out of 66) of donor strains analysed using this methodology harboured plasmid-borne integrons. A similar prevalence was reported by Tennstedt et al. (2003), who detected the presence of class 1 integrons in 12.4% of resistance plasmids obtained by exogenous isolation from an urban WWTP.