Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems

Background. Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (C. pseudotuberculosis) is a Gram-positive intracellular bacterium that causes caseous lymphadenitis and causes significant economic damage to the livestock industry by affecting animal physical condition and decreasing milk and meat production. Furthermore, due to its biochemical characteristics, it is a difficult-to-treat bacterium with multiple antimicrobial resistance phenotypes. Antimicrobial resistance in C. pseudotuberculosis is a global problem that threatens the ability of pharmacotherapy to treat common infections and affect livestock worldwide. Objective. In this study, a comparative analysis of antimicrobial resistance phenotypes and genotypes was performed. Initially, an extensive search was carried out for antibacterials that were reported in the literature with antimicrobial resistance in C. pseudotuberculosis. Subsequently, the genomes reported in the NCBI database were taken and analyzed using the Resistance Gene Identifier (RGI) software to obtain a prediction of the pathogen's resistance genes. Results. In the bibliographic search, high resistance to beta-lactams such as penicillin, amoxicillin, clindamycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, erythromycin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole was observed. These data are consistent with the results obtained from the resistance gene prediction. However, we were unable to predict resistance sequences against some antimicrobials such as penicillin. This can be explained by some structural characteristics of the pathogen, in addition to the environmental factors that lead it to generate resistance. Implications. The creation of predictive algorithms for antibacterial resistance is on the rise, although these seek to optimize treatment against pathogens, antibacterial resistance involves more factors than the presence of resistance genes. Conclusion. C. pseudotuberculosis is a pathogen that carries many antibacterial resistance genes, and several environmental and structural factors must be considered before choosing an appropriate treatment. Furthermore, our study proposes antimicrobials reported to have lower resistance that can be used in the treatment of caseous lymphadenitis in sheep.

Antibacterial resistance; Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis; gene prediction; antimicrobials.

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