Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Probiotic lactobacilli are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and are being used in several food and pharma formulations. However, growing concern of antibiotic resistance in bacterial strains of food origin and its possible transmission via functional foods is increasingly being emphasized. OBJECTIVES: This study screened potential probiotic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains for their phenotypic and genotypic antibiotic resistance profiles. METHODS: Susceptibility to different antibiotics was assayed by the Kirby Bauer standard disc diffusion protocol. Both conventional and SYBR-RTq-PCR were used for detection of resistance coding genes. RESULTS: A variable susceptibility pattern was documented against different antibiotic classes. LAB strains irrespective of origin displayed marked phenotypic resistance against cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, quinolones, glycopeptides; and methicillin among beta-lactams with few exceptions. In contrast, high sensitivity was recorded against macrolides, sulphonamides and carbapenems sub-group of beta-lactams with some variations. parC, associated with ciprofloxacin resistance was detected in 76.5% of the strains. Other prevalent resistant determinants observed were aac(6?)Ii (42.1%), ermB, ermC (29.4%), and tetM (20.5%). Six (?17.6%) of the isolates were free from genetic resistance determinants screened in this study. CONCLUSION: Study revealed presence of antibiotic resistance determinants among lactobacilli from both fermented foods and human sources.