Besides the SXT elements, other mobile genetic elements implicated in www.selleckchem.com/products/Roscovitine.html the spread of antibiotic resistance phenotype in V. cholerae from Africa include conjugative plasmids belonging to class C [5, 7], integron class 1 [41, 46], and integron class 2 [41]. Although the isolates we studied carried the SXT element, they lacked the class 1, 2, and 3 integrons and did not harbour any conjugative plasmids.

All the strains were negative for the transposase gene belonging to Tn7 but were positive for the trpM gene associated with Tn21. The Tn7 has frequently been detected in gram negative strains containing integron class 2 [26]. On the other hand, Tn21 and its relatives are major agents in the dissemination of mercury resistance and antibiotic resistance genes in gram negative bacteria but not all Tn21-like transposons are associated with

antibiotic resistance and there are variations in the diversity of antibiotic resistance genes detected in Tn21-like transposons that harbour antibiotic resistance markers [50]. PCR analysis of transconjugants did not detect the Tn21 implying that this transposon was not co-transferred with the SXT/R391-like element during conjugation. We were however not able to determine if this element confers mercury resistance to the strains we studied or if it is physically linked to any antibiotic resistance markers. It is also not clear if this selleck chemicals transposon has all the other genes responsible for transposition such as tnpA, tnpR, res, and inverted repeats or Immune system if it exists as a defective transposon in these strains. However,

the presence of the trpM gene suggests that although the strains carrying the SXT/R391-like elements lack multiple resistant integrons, this transposon is genetically ready to accept such elements because integrons are normally located adjacent to this gene [50]. It has been suggested that Tn21-like transposons which confer multiple antibiotic resistance descended from an Givinostat ancestral mercury resistance transposon like Tn501 by successive insertions of antibiotic resistances and/or insertion sequences [51]. It is therefore important to further characterize Tn21 in pathogenic V. cholerae strains. All the 65 strains were positive for the CTXETΦ but negative for all the other CTXΦ phage repressor gene alleles and this contradicts with the study on O1 El Tor strains isolates from Mozambique [52] and India [20] which have been reported to harbour the CTXclassΦ repressor. Such El Tor Strains carrying the CTXclassΦ repressor are now designated as the Matlab variants of V. cholerae [53]. Our finding on the diversity of the CTXETΦ repressor and the absence of the other rstR genes in all the strains further indicate the need for detailed studies on the genetic diversity of V. cholerae strains from different parts of the continent to gain insight into the evolutionary trends of V. cholerae species causing epidemics in Africa.