Detection and characterisation of integrons in Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis

Integrons have been widely described among the Enterobacteriaceae including strains of multi-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium DT104; however, information with respect to the presence of integrons among S. en terica serotype Enteritidis strains is limited. Multi-resistant isolates of Enteritidis were screened For the presence of integrons using a PCR protoc ol. One integron was detected in all isolates that were resistant to sulfon amide and streptomycin. Characterisation of these isolates indicated an int egron which ranged in size between 1000 and 2000 bp and which harboured a g ene cassette encoding the ant(3 ")-Ia gene specifying streptomycin and spec tinomycin resistance. Further studies revealed the integrons to be located on large conjugative plasmids. This appears to be the First report of plasm id borne integrons in Enteritidis. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbio logical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.