MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF BACTERIAL ISOLATES FROM PIGS IN ENUGU STATE

Antibiotics which now represent a major class of antimicrobial agents and has been very useful in treating diseases caused by microorganisms. Resistance to this antibiotic by microbes has become a threat to global health. Hence, the need to identify them and their successive resistance patterns. This study has been undertaken to isolate and identify isolates in piggery in Enugu. Eighteen samples were collected from the feaces and anus of the pigs from each local government. Both E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus demonstrated high susceptibility to Levofloxacin (83%) and Azithromycin (83%). Gentamycin also showed considerable effectiveness, with a susceptibility rate of 55%. Bacteria isolates exhibited notable resistance to certain antibiotics. Augmentin posed the highest resistance, with both organisms showing an 83% resistance rate, followed by Amoxicillin at 72%. Cefotaxime and Sparfloxacin demonstrated similar resistance rates of 67%. In the molecular dimension of this research, the extracted DNA from all eighteen isolates exhibited a notably high molecular weight. Subsequently, the amplification of this DNA was carried out using the 16SrRNA gene of the bacteria, resulting in fragments of approximately 1500 base pairs. The molecular characterization was further advanced by sequencing two representative samples. Upon sequencing, these samples demonstrated robust strain identification, particularly when compared with the NCBI accession number database. Isolate AA1displayed a significant 87.8% pairwise identity with a strain of Escherichia coli, affirming the accurate genetic association of this isolate with the specified bacterial species. Similarly, isolate NE2 exhibited a noteworthy 86.50% pairwise identity with a strain of Staphylococcus aureus, confirming its genetic alignment with this particular bacterial strain. This molecular analysis not only validates the bacterial species identification but also provides insights into the genetic relatedness of the isolates to known strains. The use of the 16SrRNA gene amplification and sequencing, coupled with pairwise identity comparisons, enhances the precision of the molecular characterization, contributing valuable data to the overall understanding of the genetic composition of the bacterial isolates under investigation