The goal of this study is to discover the relationship between antibiotic
resistance genes and bacteria found in crows and their respective environments.
Crow feces were collected under UW IACUC approval at UW Bothell. Following DNA
extraction PCR was performed to amplify 6 genes attributed to antibiotic
resistance from 26 samples (21 crow feces (n=6 crows 2 waste water, 2 cow
manure , 1 stream wetland UW Bothell). Cultures for Gram-negative bacteria
resistant to ampicillin (Amp), chloramphenicol (Cm), tetracycline (Tc),
vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), Campylobacter spp., and Salmonella
spp. were included. The cow manure was negative for all the bacteria cultures,
the stream was positive for Cmr, Tcr Gram-negative bacteria and VRE, the waste
water was positive for all cultured bacteria, while 6-28% of the crows were
positive for each cultured bacteria. The wastewater and cow manure were
positive for all antibiotic resistance genes tested by PCR. The stream was
positive for the mef(A) and tet(M/O/S) complex, while 1/3 of the birds were
positive for the erm(B) and mef(A) genes. The crow samples obtained at the
waste water treatment plant were much more likely to carry all the cultured
bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes examined than crow samples isolated
from the farm but this may be due to the low sample numbers. The presence of
the tet(B) and tet(M/O/S) genes in the crows were found in similar percentages
from all three environments. The mef(A) gene was lower in the farm and UW
Bothell site while the erm(B) gene was lower in the farm. To determine if some
of these bacteria and genes are more common in birds from an environment that
also carries them this will require a larger number of
samples.
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