INVESTIGATION OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PROFILE OF COLIFORM BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM TEA LEAVES IN THE PROCESSING STAGES

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Tea plant (Camellia cinensis) is the most common beverage in the world after water. In this study, it was aimed to determine antibiotic resistance profiles of Gram negative coliform bacteria which were naturally found on fresh tea leaves for each tea processing stage. The identification of the isolated coliform bacteria was performed based on colony morphology, Gram staining and conventional methods. The antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolated bacteria were determined by agar disc diffusion assay and the presence of TEM type of beta- lactamase and tetracycline resistance genes was investigated by PCR. Although a total of 312 enteric bacteria were isolated from the processing stages of tea leaves, no microorganism was observed from processed tea. The isolates were identified as Klebsiella sp. (35,8%), Citrobacter sp. (17,6%), Enterobacter (15,1%), Edwarsiella (8,3%), Escherichia sp. (7,1%) and unidentified (16,1%). While the highest resistance among the isolated strains was observed from ampicillin (81,73%), no resistance was found with respect to nalidixic acid, netilmicin and imipenem. TEM type of β-lactamase gene (bla_TEM) was detected in two of ampicillin resistance strains. The presence of tet (A), (B) and (C) genes were investigated from the isolated strains and it was found that tet (B) gene was the most common. It was determined that the resistance of tetracycline, ampicillin, streptomycin, ceftazidime, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole was transferable based on transformation assays.

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tea leaves , coliform bacteria , antibiotic resistance , bla_TEM gene , tet(A) , (B) , (C) gene

International journal of advances in engineering and pure sciences

157

International journal of advances in engineering and pure sciences