A Study of Resistome in Mexican Chili Powder as a Public Health Risk Factor.
Mayra Paola Mena NavarroMerle Ariadna Espinosa BernalClaudia AlvaradoMiguel Ángel Ramos LópezAldo Amaro ReyesJackeline Lizzeta Arvizu GómezJuan Ramiro Pacheco AguilarCarlos Saldaña GutierrezVictor Pérez MorenoJosé Alberto Rodríguez MoralesMaría Carlota García GutiérrezErika Álvarez HidalgoJorge Nuñez RamírezJosé Luis Hernández FloresJuan Campos GuillénPublished in: Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) (2024)
Chili powder is an important condiment around the world. However, according to various reports, the presence of pathogenic microorganisms could present a public health risk factor during its consumption. Therefore, microbiological quality assessment is required to understand key microbial functional traits, such as antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). In this study, metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and bioinformatics analysis were used to characterize the comprehensive profiles of the bacterial community and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in 15 chili powder samples from different regions of Mexico. The initial bacterial load showed aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) ranging between 6 × 10 3 and 7 × 10 8 CFU/g, sporulated mesophilic bacteria (SMB) from 4.3 × 10 3 to 2 × 10 9 CFU/g, and enterobacteria (En) from <100 to 2.3 × 10 6 CFU/g. The most representative families in the samples were Bacillaceae and Enterobacteriaceae , in which 18 potential pathogen-associated species were detected. In total, the resistome profile in the chili powder contained 68 unique genes, which conferred antibiotic resistance distributed in 13 different classes. Among the main classes of antibiotic resistance genes with a high abundance in almost all the samples were those related to multidrug, tetracycline, beta-lactam, aminoglycoside, and phenicol resistance. Our findings reveal the utility of mNGS in elucidating microbiological quality in chili powder to reduce the public health risks and the spread of potential pathogens with antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
Keyphrases
- antibiotic resistance genes
- anaerobic digestion
- microbial community
- public health
- wastewater treatment
- bioinformatics analysis
- risk factors
- genome wide
- gram negative
- healthcare
- multidrug resistant
- mental health
- copy number
- quality improvement
- high intensity
- adverse drug
- antimicrobial resistance
- candida albicans
- gene expression
- transcription factor
- circulating tumor cells
- cell free