Prevalence of tet(B) and tet(M) genes among tetracycline-resistant Vibrio spp. in the aquatic environments of Korea

Of 24 tetracycline(Tc)-resistant Vibrio spp. isolated from different marine sources in Korea between 1993 and 2003, 23 were identified as carrying both tet(B) and tet(M), while 1 strain carried tet(B) only. In conjugation experiments, 3 strains appeared to be able to transfer both tet(B) and tet(M) to the recipient. Both discriminatory PCR and sequence analysis showed that tet(M) genes of Vibrio spp. appear to be a single allele containing a specific region of tet(M) in Tn1545. However, erm(B) and aphA3, known to be linked to Tn1545-like genes, were not detected in Tc-resistant Vibrio spp., even in 9 strains resistant to erythromycin. In analysis to examine the relative position of tet(B) and tet(M), it was shown that tet(M) was present at the 3'-end of the insertion sequence IS10 of Tn10 carrying tet(B). At the junctional region between Tn10 and tet(M), we found a 14 bp sequence of unknown function and the deletion of regulatory sequences reported to be needed for tet(M) expression in conjugative transposons. This is the first report of the simultaneous presence of tet(B) and tet(M), and of the tet(M) gene being linked to the 3'-end of Tn10 in Tc-resistant Vibrio spp. in Korea.