In Silico Analysis of Antibiotics Resistance Genes in Lactobacillus plantarum Kita-3 isolated from Halloumi Cheese

Previous studies found that antibiotics resistance genes on plasmids in Lactobacillus make them unsafe for food purposes due to the capability of genes to transfer to pathogenic microorganisms. In contrast, Lactobacillus is widely used as a probiotic. This study assessed the antibiotics susceptibility of Lactobacillus plantarum Kita-3 isolated from Halloumi cheese using eight antibiotics. Genome sequencing was performed using the NovaSeq 6000 sequencing platform to detect the presence of antibiotics resistance genes on chromosomes and plasmids. L. plantarum Kita-3 was resistant to clindamycin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol and susceptible to tetracycline, ampicillin, kanamycin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin. Genome sequencing of the L. plantarum Kita-3 verified the presence of the tetracycline, fluoroquinolones, β-lactamase resistance genes, and multidrug resistance efflux. Kita-3 did not have transposable elements, gene transfer agents, and plasmid-related functions. Overall, this study resulted in the antibiotics resistance profile of L. plantarumKita-3 to assess the risk of antibiotics resistance genes transfer to other bacteria. This study can provide essential data on the safe use of Lactobacillus plantarum Kita-3 as probiotics.