AUTHOR=Colavecchio Anna , Cadieux Brigitte , Lo Amanda , Goodridge Lawrence D. 

TITLE=Bacteriophages Contribute to the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Genes among Foodborne Pathogens of the Enterobacteriaceae Family – A Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01108

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.01108

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Foodborne illnesses continue to have an economic impact on global health care systems. There is a growing concern regarding the increasing frequency of antibiotic resistance in foodborne bacterial pathogens and how such resistance may affect treatment outcomes. In an effort to better understand how to reduce the spread of resistance, many research studies have been conducted regarding the methods by which antibiotic resistance genes are mobilized and spread between bacteria. Transduction by bacteriophages (phages) is one of many horizontal gene transfer mechanisms, and recent findings have shown phage-mediated transduction to be a significant contributor to dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes. Here, we review the viability of transduction as a contributing factor to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in foodborne pathogens of the <italic>Enterobacteriaceae</italic> family, including non-typhoidal <italic>Salmonella</italic> and Shiga toxin-producing <italic>Escherichia coli</italic>, as well as environmental factors that increase transduction of antibiotic resistance genes.</p>