• ShabbirMuhammad Abu BakrMAB0000-0002-2575-1674Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Pakistan., Aziz Ul-Rahman, Muhammad Rizwan Iftikhar, Majeeda Rasheed, Muhammad Kashif Maan, Adeel Sattar, Mehmood Ahmad, Farid Ahmed Khan, Waqas Ahmad, Muhammad Ilyas Riaz, and Hassaan Bin Aslam.
• Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2024 Jan 10; 60 (1).

AbstractStaphylococcus aureus is one of the major pathogens responsible for causing food poisoning worldwide. The emergence of antibiotic resistance in this bacterium is influenced by various factors. Among them, bacterial acquired defense systems described as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-cas system might be involved in antibiotic resistance development in bacteria. The current study was designed to assess the prevalence of S. aureus and its antibiotic resistance profile and identify the relationship of the CRISPR-cas system with antimicrobial resistance, followed by phylogenetic analysis. Total samples (n = 188) of poultry meat were collected from the poultry bird market of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. We used both phenotypic (antibiotic disc diffusion) and genotypic methods (PCR) to identify multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains of S. aureus. Additionally, the role of the CRISPR-Cas system in the isolated MDR S. aureus was also assessed. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate the association of the CRISPR-cas system with antimicrobial resistance. All of the S. aureus isolates showed 100% resistance against erythromycin, 97.5% were resistant to tetracycline, and 75% were resistant to methicillin. Eleven isolates were MDR in the current study. The CRISPR system was found in all MDR isolates, and fifteen spacers were identified within the CRISPR locus. Furthermore, MDR S. aureus isolates and the standard strain showed higher expression levels of CRISPR-associated genes. The correlation of said system with MDR isolates points to foreign gene acquisition by horizontal transfer. Current knowledge could be utilized to tackle antibiotic-resistant bacteria, mainly S. aureus.

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