Detection of antibiotic resistance genes in different Salmonella serovars by oligonucleotide microarray analysis

In this study the feasibility of 50- and 60-mer oligonucleotides in microarray analysis for the detection and identification of antibiotic resistance genes in various Salmonella strains was assessed. The specificity of the designed oligonucleotides was evaluated, furthermore the optimal spotting concentration was determined. The oligonucleotide microarray was used to screen two sets of Salmonella strains for the presence of several antibiotic resistance genes. Set 1 consisted of strains with variant Salmonella Genomic Island 1 (SGI1) multidrug resistance (MDR) regions of which the antibiotic resistance profiles and genotypes were known. The second set contained strains of which initially only phenotypic data were available. The microarray results of the first set of Salmonella strains perfectly matched with the phenotypic and genotypic information. The microarray data of the second set were almost completely in concordance with the available phenotypic data. It was concluded that the microarray technique in combination with random primed genomic labeling and 50- or 60-mer oligonucleotides is a powerful tool for the detection of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteria.