Exploring the Potential Association between PAI and CRISPR CAS Region in E.coli CFT073 – An Insilico Approach

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be a major problem that jeopardises public health and environment all around the world. New methods for controlling resistant bacterial infections are desperately needed. CRISPR Cas, the recent genome editing technology has potential applicability in fighting against AMR bacterial infections since it has an ability to target resistance genes with specificity. The current study aims to investigate the relationship among antibiotic resistance, virulence genes and insertion sequence along with CRISPRcas locus region in E.coli CFT073 strain through an insilico approach in an attempt to apply CRISPRcas technology to prevent the dissemination of pathogenic strains. Using the CARD database, the existence of eight resistance genes (mdtH, H-NS, baeR, evgA, emrR, gadW, cpxA, and EC-5) was discovered, and the ISs, ISEc10, and IS200c were shown to be prevalent in the E.coli CFT073 strain. Thirteen virulence genes from varied family were identified using virulence finder tool. The study found 19 spacer regions as well as the existence of cas genes using CRISPRcas ++ tool in E.coli genome and also identified the PAM positions along with their flanking IS regions using E CRISP. Two regions (mdtH-IS21 (ISEc10) and emrR-IS110 (ISEc20)) were identified as a promising PAI sites while comparing the locations of PAM, transposase, and antibiotic resistance genes where a knockout mechanism can be applied using CRISPRcas technology to disseminate the spread of AMR among microbial species.