Detection of Plasmid-Mediated Mobile Colistin Resistance Gene (mcr-1) in Enterobacterales Isolates from a University Hospital

Purpose: Colistin represents one of the last treatment options for infections caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) Enterobacterales. The emergence of a plasmid-mediated mobile colistin resistance-1 (mcr-1) gene has raised serious concerns about its potential dissemination among bacteria. Methods: In this study, we evaluated the chromogenic medium, CHROMID (R) Colistin Resistance (COLR) agar, for the rapid detection of colistin-resistant Enterobacterales using broth microdilution (BMD) as a reference method. We also attempted to detect mcr-1, -2, -3, -4, and -5 genes, as well as the insertion sequence ISApl1 via polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by sequencing of mcr gene(s). Results: Among the 100 studied Enterobacterales isolates, 53% of them were colistin-resistant, with higher rate among Klebsiella pneumoniae (75%) as compared to Escherichia coli (44.4%). The COLR agar showed 83.2% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity for the detection of colistin resistance. Among colistin-resistant isolates, mcr-1 gene was only detected in four (7.5%) E. coli isolates. The ISApl1 was not found among mcr-1 positive isolates. Sequencing of mcr-1 gene revealed nucleotide sequence homogeneity with the wildtype mcr-1 gene in BLAST. Conclusion: The COLR agar is a promising phenotypic method for the detection of colistin-resistant Enterobacterales. Multiplex PCR followed by sequencing can be used for mcr genes' detection and characterization.