Bioinformatics analysis of clinical isolates of Escherichia coli from Nigeria and other countries for quinolone and fluoroquinolone resistance

Abstract

Quinolones were the drugs of choice for the treatment of bacterial infections, especially, infections caused by Gram negative bacteria. Unfortunately, these drugs have been resisted by the microbial agents including Escherichia coli, known to be the leading cause of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) globally. This study therefore was aimed at detecting all the genes involved in Quinolone resistance by the E. coli pathogen isolated from Nigeria and from other geographical regions, using robust techniques. Twenty-three sequence data files of Escherichia coli from various countries of the world were retrieved from the National Centre for biotechnology Information (NCBI) database and sent for genome assembly for processing of the short reads into long reads. The outcome was config. fasta files which were comprehensively annotated and characterized for genetic functions and mechanisms. A total of 208 antibiotic resistance genes were detected, out of which 27(13.0%) were linked to quinolone resistance and 14(6.7%) to multi- drug resistance. The result of this study significantly implicated many genes in quinolone resistance; notably were the efflux pump genes and their high percentage abundance. We recommend in-depth study of the genes for their expression capabilities, also the structure and features of the efflux pump genes to enable proper redesigning of drugs by integrating anti efflux pump substances that will selectively prevent the expression of the genes for antibiotic resistance, without any harm to the host, or that can destabilize the positive regulation of the operon for antibiotic resistance.