Genetic diversity, antimicrobial resistance and virulence profile of Salmonella isolated from the peanut supply chain

Thirty-Eight Salmonella isolates recovered from different stages of the peanut supply chain in three Brazilian States (São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Bahia) were subtyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and characterized by phenotypic and genotypic tests for antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes. The isolates were distributed into seven PFGE pulsotypes. All the isolates were resistant to sulfonamide. However, only one isolate from a production site in Minas Gerais had resistance to two types of antimicrobials (sulfonamide and ampicillin). Furthermore, the isolates had intermediary resistance to kanamycin (16/38), streptomycin (14/38) and ceftazidime (12/38). Four isolates had the antimicrobial resistance gene related to phenicols (floR) and 37 related to aminoglycosides (strA). The blashv gene related to β-lactams was detected in isolates recovered from all the production regions. Six virulence genes (invA, sefA, sivH, mgtC, ssaQ and agfA) were observed in all isolates. The sopE gene was detected in 24 isolates, avrA in 12. The gtgB, ipfA and rck genes were not detected. The results showed that the pulsotype 1 was restricted to Minas Gerais whereas the pulsotype 7 was present in São Paulo and Bahia. In addition, most of the isolates were not multidrug resistant. •Most PFGE pulsotypes were restricted to specific regions.•The virulence gene profile was isolate specific.•There was no correlation between PFGE and antimicrobial phenotypic resistance.•Antimicrobial resistance genes were not often detected.