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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Front. Microbiol.</journal-id>
<journal-title>Frontiers in Microbiology</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="pubmed">Front. Microbiol.</abbrev-journal-title>
<issn pub-type="epub">1664-302X</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name>Frontiers Media S.A.</publisher-name>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3389/fmicb.2021.774797</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
<subject>Microbiology</subject>
<subj-group>
<subject>Original Research</subject>
</subj-group>
</subj-group>
</article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>Genetic Characterization of <italic>mcr-1</italic>-Positive Multidrug-Resistant <italic>Salmonella enterica</italic> Serotype Typhimurium Isolated From Intestinal Infection in Children and Pork Offal in China</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Zhang</surname> <given-names>Haoran</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Xiang</surname> <given-names>Ying</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Huang</surname> <given-names>Yong</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3"><sup>3</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1542842/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Liang</surname> <given-names>Beibei</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="author-notes" rid="fn002"><sup>&#x2020;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/1537075/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Xu</surname> <given-names>Xuebin</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4"><sup>4</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/626233/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Xie</surname> <given-names>Jing</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Du</surname> <given-names>Xinying</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Yang</surname> <given-names>Chaojie</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/529418/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Liu</surname> <given-names>Hongbo</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/524001/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Liu</surname> <given-names>Hongbo</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Hui</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Yang</surname> <given-names>Mingjuan</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Wang</surname> <given-names>Ligui</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Hu</surname> <given-names>Xiaofeng</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Jin</surname> <given-names>Lianqun</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Li</surname> <given-names>Jinsong</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Jiang</surname> <given-names>Yongqiang</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="c001"><sup>&#x002A;</sup></xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Qiu</surname> <given-names>Shaofu</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="c002"><sup>&#x002A;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/217005/overview"/>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Song</surname> <given-names>Hongbin</given-names></name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2"><sup>2</sup></xref>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="c003"><sup>&#x002A;</sup></xref>
<uri xlink:href="http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/400347/overview"/>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
<aff id="aff1"><sup>1</sup><institution>Academy of Military Medical Sciences</institution>, <addr-line>Beijing</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff2"><sup>2</sup><institution>Center for Disease Control and Prevention of PLA</institution>, <addr-line>Beijing</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff3"><sup>3</sup><institution>School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University</institution>, <addr-line>Beijing</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<aff id="aff4"><sup>4</sup><institution>Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention</institution>, <addr-line>Shanghai</addr-line>, <country>China</country></aff>
<author-notes>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Edited by: Guojie Cao, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, United States Food and Drug Administration, United States</p></fn>
<fn fn-type="edited-by"><p>Reviewed by: Elaa Maamar, Tunis El Manar University, Tunisia; Hongxia Jiang, South China Agricultural University, China</p></fn>
<corresp id="c001">&#x002A;Correspondence: Yongqiang Jiang, <email>jiangyq710327@sina.com</email></corresp>
<corresp id="c002">Shaofu Qiu, <email>qiushf0613@hotmail.com</email></corresp>
<corresp id="c003">Hongbin Song, <email>hongbinsong@263.net</email></corresp>
<fn fn-type="equal" id="fn002"><p><sup>&#x2020;</sup>These authors have contributed equally to this work</p></fn>
<fn fn-type="other" id="fn004"><p>This article was submitted to Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology</p></fn>
</author-notes>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>10</day>
<month>01</month>
<year>2022</year>
</pub-date>
<pub-date pub-type="collection">
<year>2021</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>12</volume>
<elocation-id>774797</elocation-id>
<history>
<date date-type="received">
<day>13</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2021</year>
</date>
<date date-type="accepted">
<day>16</day>
<month>11</month>
<year>2021</year>
</date>
</history>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright &#x00A9; 2022 Zhang, Xiang, Huang, Liang, Xu, Xie, Du, Yang, Liu, Liu, Wang, Yang, Wang, Hu, Jin, Li, Jiang, Qiu and Song.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2022</copyright-year>
<copyright-holder>Zhang, Xiang, Huang, Liang, Xu, Xie, Du, Yang, Liu, Liu, Wang, Yang, Wang, Hu, Jin, Li, Jiang, Qiu and Song</copyright-holder>
<license xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><p>This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.</p></license>
</permissions>
<abstract>
<p>With the rapid emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic>, the increased resistance of <italic>Salmonella</italic> has attracted extensive attention. This study reports on 11 multidrug-resistant <italic>Salmonella enterica</italic> serovar Typhimurium strains harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> in China. They all presented resistance to colistin, and additionally, one that was isolated from a child&#x2019;s stool sample was also resistant to ceftriaxone and azithromycin. We screened 1454 strains of <italic>Salmonella</italic> for <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene through PCR, and these strains are all preserved in our laboratory. Antimicrobial sensitivity analysis was carried out for the screened <italic>mcr-1</italic> positive strains. Genetic polymorphism analysis of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium was performed by using the Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). The plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> were identified by S1-PFGE and southern blotting. Plasmid conjugation assays were used to analyze the transferability of colistin resistance. The plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> were characterized by sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. Eleven <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> with colistin resistance (MICs 4&#x03BC;g/ml) were detected, which were isolated from children and pig offal in China. All of them were multidrug-resistant strains. PFGE results revealed that the strains isolated from different samples or locations have identical genotypes. S1-PFGE and southern blotting experiments showed that three plasmids of different sizes (33, 60, and 250 kb) all carried the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene. The plasmid conjugation assays revealed that <italic>Salmonella</italic> acquired <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring plasmids by horizontal transfer. Sequencing and plasmid type analysis revealed that these plasmids were types IncX4, IncI2, and IncHI2. Among them, IncX4 and IncI2 plasmids had extremely similar backbones and contained one resistant gene <italic>mcr-1</italic>. IncHI2 plasmid contained multiple resistant genes including <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub>, <italic>oqxB</italic>, <italic>sul</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>aadA</italic>, and <italic>bla</italic><sub>TEM</sub>. We identified 11 <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains in China and described their characteristics. Our findings indicate that the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene can effectively spread among intestinal bacteria by horizontal transfer of three types of plasmids. Moreover, the IncHI2 plasmid can also mediate the transfer of other drug resistance genes. These results reveal that constant surveillance of <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring <italic>S</italic> Typhimurium is imperative to prevent the spread of colistin resistance.</p>
</abstract>
<kwd-group>
<kwd>plasmid</kwd>
<kwd>colistin</kwd>
<kwd><italic>Salmonella</italic> typhimurium</kwd>
<kwd>multidrug-resistant (MDR)</kwd>
<kwd>bioinformatic analysis</kwd>
</kwd-group>
<counts>
<fig-count count="4"/>
<table-count count="1"/>
<equation-count count="0"/>
<ref-count count="34"/>
<page-count count="10"/>
<word-count count="5459"/>
</counts>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body>
<sec id="S1" sec-type="intro">
<title>Introduction</title>
<p>The rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR, resistance to three or more classes of antimicrobials) bacteria poses a serious threat to public health (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12">Kumar et al., 2014</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">Jain et al., 2020</xref>). <italic>Salmonella</italic> is one of the common pathogens that can cause bacterial intestinal infections and diarrhea in developed and developing countries (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17">Lokken et al., 2016</xref>). <italic>Salmonella enterica</italic> serovar Typhimurium (<italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium), one of the most prevalent serovars of <italic>Salmonella</italic>, is regularly linked to human infections and is frequently reported to be associated with human infections in several industrialized countries (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8">Gomes-Neves et al., 2012</xref>), which can result in gastroenteritis and bacteremia. For clinical therapy of <italic>Salmonella</italic> infection, fluoroquinolones, azithromycin, and cephalosporins have been indicated. However, the extensive use of antibacterial medicines has resulted in the emergence of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium being resistant to antibiotics (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B31">Zhu et al., 2017</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B28">Wang Y. et al., 2020</xref>).</p>
<p>Polymyxin, a colistin antibiotic, acts as the last-line defense against severe infections caused by broad-spectrum active gram-negative bacteria (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">Lu et al., 2019</xref>). Additionally, colistin resistance has developed in <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium, involving a variety of mechanisms. The plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> was first discovered in <italic>E. coli</italic> in China in 2015 (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Liu et al., 2016</xref>), and has been the subject of research attention due to the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene&#x2019;s ability to spread horizontally between bacteria. The colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> in the IncI2 plasmid encodes a phosphoethanolamine transferase, which is the modification of the lipid A and provides adequate protection from colistin. Multiple plasmids were used to propagate the colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic>, including IncHI1, IncHI2, IncI2, IncX4, IncF, IncFI, IncFII, and IncP (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">Zurfluh et al., 2017</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">Touati and Mairi, 2021</xref>). These findings indicate that horizontal transfer of multiple resistance genes in the intestine bacteria may result in bacterial resistance. This study performed a screening analysis for the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium, which was preserved in the laboratory. The present study aimed to characterize the <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> plasmids isolated from patients and food.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S2">
<title>Materials and Methonds</title>
<sec id="S2.SS1">
<title>Bacterial <italic>mcr-1</italic> Gene Screening, Serotyping</title>
<p>To clarify the epidemic situation of the colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> in critical areas in China, we detected 1454 <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains stored in our laboratory. All <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains were isolated from stool samples of patients and food in markets, which were collected from Shanghai City (1046), Guangdong Province (209), and Guangxi Province (199) from 2006 to 2018, respectively. These strains were strictly identified by biochemical tests (API 20E system; bioM&#x00E9;rieux Vitek, Marcy-L&#x2019;Etoile, France) and serotyped on slides by microtiter agglutination tests for O and H antigens (SSI, Copenhagen, Denmark) according to the manufacturer&#x2019;s instructions. We screened all historical <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains for <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene by PCR using the published primers sequence according to a study by <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Liu et al. (2016)</xref>.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S2.SS2">
<title>Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing</title>
<p>Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was designed using broth microdilution in Sensititre Gram Negative AST Plates for <italic>Salmonella</italic> strains (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., West Sussex, United Kingdom) including 14 different antimicrobials: ceftriaxone (CRO), tetracycline (TE), ceftiofur (XNL), cefoxitin (FOX), gentamicin (GEN), ampicillin (AMP), chloramphenicol (CHL), ciprofloxacin (CI), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT), sulfisoxazole (SX), nalidixic acid (NAL), streptomycin (SM), azithromycin (AZI), and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 2:1 ratio (AUG2). The susceptibility to polymyxin is to use the dye WST (Dojindo Molecular Technologies, Inc., Japan) by a microbial viability assay kit. A reference strain of <italic>Escherichia coli</italic> ATCC 25922 strain was performed in the test as quality control (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B27">Wang et al., 2017</xref>).</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S2.SS3">
<title>Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), S1-PFGE, and Southern Blotting</title>
<p>Genomic polymorphism analysis of <italic>Salmonella</italic> strains was performed using the pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) after a slight modification of the pulseNet standardized PFGE protocol for <italic>Salmonella</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Ribot et al., 2006</xref>). To study the relationship between strains, <italic>mcr-1-</italic>negative <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium Bacteria at different times in the same location and at the same time in other regions were used as the reference bacteria in the laboratory. These isolates were digested with <italic>Xba</italic>I (Takara, Dalian, China) at 37&#x00B0;C, and the <italic>Salmonella enterica</italic> var. Braendrup H9812 strain was used as the reference. Electrophoresis performed on a CHEF MAPPER variable angle system (Bio-Rad, California, America) with the parameters set at 2.16&#x2013;63.8 s for 19 h performed following previously described methods (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">Liu et al., 2018</xref>). The plasmid profiles were characterized by S1-PFGE. The endonuclease S1 nuclease (Takara, Dalian, China) was used to digest at 37&#x00B0;C, and electrophoresis running set at 0.22&#x2013;26.29 s for 15 h. The images were captured by a Gel Doc 2000 system (Bio-Rad), and imported into the BioNumerics software (v6.0) database for further processing and analysis. The southern blotting with digoxigenin-labeled <italic>mcr-1</italic> probe using published primer sequences (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Liu et al., 2016</xref>) was performed to membrane transfer, molecular hybridization, and probe detection following a previously reported method (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">Zou et al., 2015</xref>).</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S2.SS4">
<title>Plasmid Conjugation Assays</title>
<p>To verify the <italic>mcr-1</italic> positive plasmid&#x2019;s transfer capacity, plasmid conjugation experiments were performed by utilizing a standard <italic>E. coli</italic> J53 as the recipient, and the <italic>mcr-1</italic> positive <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains as donors. The donor bacteria cultured overnight were mixed with the recipient bacteria in a ratio of 1:3 and harvested, re-suspended in 80&#x03BC;L. The mixture was incubated for mating at 37&#x00B0;C for 12&#x2013;18 h in 5 ml LB liquid broth. Then a Muller-Hinton agar (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA) plate containing 100 mg/L sodium azide and 2 mg/L polymyxin B was to a selective medium for <italic>E. coli</italic> J53 transconjugants. Putative transconjugants were confirmed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing and detection of <italic>mcr-1</italic> with PCR.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S2.SS5">
<title>Whole Genome Sequencing and Bioinformatic Analysis</title>
<p>Using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), we sequenced plasmids of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium harboring the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene. DNA was extracted from the overnight cultured strains using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The mate-pair library was constructed by nucleic acid protein analyzer Qsep100 to obtain DNA fragments (not less than 500 bp, not more than 800 bp) and sequenced by MiSeq sequencer. The raw reads were assembled into draft continuous sequences (contigs) by Newbler (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">Arredondo-Alonso et al., 2018</xref>) and NxTrim (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21">O&#x2019;Connell et al., 2015</xref>), and then spliced with Cytoscape&#x2019;s GapFiller. Complete plasmid genomes were annotated using the online annotation server RAST. Identification of insertion sequence (IS), plasmid replicons, and resistance genes were performed by ISfinder,<sup><xref ref-type="fn" rid="footnote1">1</xref></sup> PlasmidFinder,<sup><xref ref-type="fn" rid="footnote2">2</xref></sup> and ResFinder (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4">Bortolaia et al., 2020</xref>), respectively. Multiple plasmids were compared by Mauve, Brig, and CLC Genomics Workbench. The circled figure of multiple plasmids for comparison was drawn by DNAploter (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23">Roberts et al., 2008</xref>).</p>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec id="S3" sec-type="results">
<title>Results</title>
<sec id="S3.SS1">
<title>Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of <italic>S</italic>. Typhimurium Harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic></title>
<p>Among the 1454 strains of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium maintained in our laboratory, 11 strains harboring colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> were identified. Eight strains were isolated from the feces of children under the age of five, while the remaining strains were isolated from pork offal. These strains exhibited multidrug resistance, including polymyxin (MICs 4&#x03BC;g/ml). Additionally, the majority (63.6%) of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> were resistant to the third-generation cephalosporins. Notably, one of them exhibited co-resistant to azithromycin and third-generation cephalosporins (<xref ref-type="table" rid="T1">Table 1</xref>).</p>
<table-wrap position="float" id="T1">
<label>TABLE 1</label>
<caption><p>Characteristic of 11 <italic>mcr-1-</italic>positive MDR <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium.</p></caption>
<table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" frame="hsides" rules="groups">
<thead>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Strain no.</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">Antibiogram<xref ref-type="table-fn" rid="t1fna"><sup>a</sup></xref></td>
<td valign="top" align="center" colspan="5">Results of sequencing for 11 <italic>mcr-1-</italic>positive plasmids<hr/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td/>
<td valign="top" align="justify"/><td valign="top" align="center">Plasmid name</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">Size of <italic>mcr-1</italic> plasmid (b)</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">Type of <italic>mcr-1</italic> plasmid</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">Drug-resistant gene</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IS types</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S49</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">CRO,EFT,AMP,GEN,<break/>SM,SX,CHL,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS49</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">222,291</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncHI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic>, <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub>, <italic>aac</italic>, <italic>floR</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>fosA</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">ISApll</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S51</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">CRO,EFT,AMP,GEN,SM,<break/>SX,SXT,CHL,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS51</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">249,475</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncHI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1, bla<sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub>, sul</italic>, <italic>oqxA</italic>, <italic>oqxR</italic>, <italic>dfrA</italic>, <italic>floR</italic>, <italic>oqxB</italic>, <italic>aadA</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>aac, fosA</italic>, <italic>cml</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">ISApll</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S52</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">CRO,EFT,AMP,GEN,<break/>SM,SX,CHL,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS52</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">249,043</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncHI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic>, <italic>bla<sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub></italic>, <italic>oqxB, sul</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>aadA</italic>, <italic>fosA</italic>, <italic>floR</italic>, <italic>aac</italic>, <italic>cml</italic>, <italic>oqxR</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">ISApll</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S53</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">CRO,EFT,AMP,GEN,<break/>SM,SX,CHL,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS53</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">228,926</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncHI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic>, <italic>bla<sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub></italic>, <italic>oqxA</italic>, <italic>sul</italic>, <italic>oqxR</italic>, <italic>aadA</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">ISApll</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S54</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">CRO,EFT,AMP,GEN,<break/>SM,SX,CHL,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS54</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">222,880</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncHI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic>, <italic>bla<sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub></italic>, <italic>aac</italic>, <italic>sul</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>floR</italic>, <italic>fosA</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">ISApll</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S55</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">FOX,AUG2,CRO,EFT,<break/>AMP,SM,SX,SXT,<break/>AZ,CHL,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS55</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">59,233</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">None</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S56</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS56</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">60,454</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">None</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S60</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">AMP,NAL,GEN,SM,<break/>SX,SXT,CHL,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS60</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">33,308</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncX4</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IS26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S67</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">AMP,NAL,SM,<break/>SX,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS67</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">33,308</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncX4</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IS26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S69</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">AMP,NAL,GEN,SX,<break/>SXT,CHL,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS69</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">33308</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncX4</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IS26</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">S70</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">CRO,EFT,AMP,GEN,<break/>SM,SX,CHL,TE,COL</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">pS70</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">223,256</td>
<td valign="top" align="center">IncHI2</td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><italic>mcr-1</italic>, <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub>, <italic>aac</italic>, <italic>sul</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>floR</italic>, <italic>fosA</italic></td>
<td valign="top" align="center">ISApll</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table-wrap-foot>
<fn id="t1fna"><p><italic><sup>a</sup>CRO, ceftriaxone; TE, tetracycline; XNL, ceftiofur; FOX, cefoxitin; GEN, gentamicin; AMP, ampicillin; CHL, chloramphenicol; CI, ciprofloxacin; SXT, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole; SX, sulfisoxazole; NAL, nalidixic acid; SM, streptomycin; AZI, azithromycin; AUG2, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 2:1 ratio.</italic></p></fn>
</table-wrap-foot>
</table-wrap>
</sec>
<sec id="S3.SS2">
<title>Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis, Plasmid Profiling, and Southern Blotting</title>
<p>We studied the PFGE results of 11 <italic>mcr-1-</italic>positive <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains and 12 <italic>mcr-1-</italic>negative <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains. The majority of these (10/11) belong to ST34, while one (S55) belongs to ST19. In total, 13 distinct PFGE genotypes were discovered among 23 strains using the 85% cutoff (<xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="FS1">Supplementary Figure 1</xref>). The <italic>mcr-1</italic> positive strains were distributed in 10 different genotypes. Furthermore, numerous isolates obtained from diverse samples and provinces were identified as belonging to the same genotype. For instance, <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> strains isolated from patient samples and food in Shanghai and the strains isolated from patients in Zhejiang and Henan were in the same cluster. S1-PFGE analysis showed that two of 11 <italic>mcr-1</italic> positive <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium carried two plasmids, while the remaining eight carried single plasmid (<xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="FS2">Supplementary Figure 2</xref>). Southern blotting revealed that all of them carried one plasmid harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> (<xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="FS2">Supplementary Figure 2</xref>).</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S3.SS3">
<title>Plasmid Conjugation Assays</title>
<p>To determine the transferability of the plasmid harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic>, plasmid conjugation assays were performed using 11 <italic>mcr-1</italic> positive <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium as donors and <italic>E. coli</italic> J53 as the recipient. Five of eleven recipients tested positive for the resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> via PCR amplification and sequencing analysis. Five plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> were identified (pS49, pS51, pS52, pS55, pS56). Three were IncHI2 and two were IncI2 plasmids (<xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="FS1">Supplementary Figure 1</xref>). The MIC of colistin for the transconjugants (the <italic>E. coli</italic> J53 harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene) was increased to 4 &#x03BC;g/ml, which was significantly more than the colistin resistance levels of the original J53 strains (which have MIC values of 0.125 &#x03BC;g/ml). It can be speculated that the transconjugants acquire the donor strains&#x2019; colistin resistance gene.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S3.SS4">
<title>The Complete Sequence of Plasmid Harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic></title>
<p>We sequenced the plasmid of 11 <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains. As a control, we downloaded five highly comparable plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> from <italic>Salmonella</italic> strains for comparison (at above 95% coverage and above 99% identity) from NCBI (full name and cited reference). Three IncX4, two IncI2, and six IncHI2 plasmids harboring the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene were identified by analyzing the plasmid sequences. Plasmid sequence comparison revealed that the lengths of the three IncX4 plasmids were approximately 33 kb and the sequences were completely identical; the lengths of the two IncI2 plasmids were 59,233 and 60,454 b, respectively, and the sequence differences were within 1.3 kb, and the 6 IncHI2 plasmid sequences were around 220-250 kb in length and the length variance was less than 2.8 kb. The three IncX4 plasmids with the identical sequence had a typical IncX4 backbone and were extremely similar to pNG14043 from <italic>Salmonella</italic> in Taiwan (at above 99% homology). The IS26 was upstream of resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> in our isolates. The IncX4 plasmids had only the resistance gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> and no other identifiable resistance genes (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F1">Figures 1</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">2</xref>). In contrast to pHNSHP45, three IncX4 plasmids lacked an ISApl1 insertion element upstream of <italic>mcr-1</italic> but had an IS26 insertion element. The IncI2 plasmids were similar to pHNSHP45 by <italic>E. coli</italic> strains from Shanghai in July 2013. The sequence of <italic>mcr-1</italic> on these plasmids was identical to pHNSHP45. However, two IncI2 plasmids lacked an ISApl1 insertion element upstream of <italic>mcr-1</italic>, and an IS683 region was found to be missing in all two IncI2-type plasmids isolated in this study (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figures 2</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F3">3</xref>). Unlike the IncX4 and IncI2 plasmids, IncHI2 plasmids exhibited the most genetic diversity (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figures 2</xref>, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">4</xref>). Compared with the pHNSHP45-2 plasmid, these IncHI2 plasmids with the common backbone were 250 kb in length. All the IncHI2 plasmids contained a single copy of <italic>mcr-1</italic>, and the sequence surrounding <italic>mcr-1</italic> shared 100% sequence identity. However, these plasmids contain numerous variable resistance genes, integrons, and ISs. The reference plasmid contained a variety of resistance genes, including <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX&#x2013;M</sub>, <italic>oqxA</italic>, <italic>oqxB</italic>, <italic>oqxR</italic>, <italic>sul</italic>, <italic>aph</italic>, <italic>aadA</italic>, <italic>dfrA</italic>, <italic>floR</italic>, <italic>aac</italic>, <italic>fosA</italic>, <italic>hph</italic>. The IncHI2 plasmids we investigated had different resistance genes and insert sequences with the reference plasmid (<xref ref-type="table" rid="T1">Table 1</xref>). Compared to the reference plasmid, several drug-resistant genes were missing, including <italic>oqxA, oqxB, oqxR, sul</italic>, <italic>aadA</italic> in three IncHI2 plasmids (pS49, pS54, pS70) and <italic>dfrA12</italic> in the five IncHI2 plasmids (pS49, pS52, pS53, pS54, pS70) (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F4">Figure 4</xref>). Five of six IncHI2 plasmids contained the insertion sequence ISApl1 on the upstream of <italic>mcr-1</italic>, but another plasmid lacked ISApl1 around <italic>mcr-1</italic> (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figure 2</xref>).</p>
<fig id="F1" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 1</label>
<caption><p>Sequencing alignment of <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring IncX4 plasmids. The <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring plasmid pNG14043 with GenBank no. KY120364 which was isolated from <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium in Taiwan was used as refrence plasmid (black circle). The outmost circle in red arrows denots the annotations of refrence plasmid. The figure shows the extremly high degree of homology of the four <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring IncX4 plasmids. Detailed information of <italic>mcr-1</italic> location of plasmids is provided in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figure 2</xref>.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmicb-12-774797-g001.tif"/>
</fig>
<fig id="F2" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 2</label>
<caption><p>Genetic context of 11 plasmids surrounding the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene. In CDS, red and blue arrows represent <italic>mcr-1</italic> and IS, respectively, black arrows present plasmid bone. The light blue and orange shaded regions indicate genetic regions that show the direct and reverse nucleotide identity homology between different segments (&#x003E; 99%).</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmicb-12-774797-g002.tif"/>
</fig>
<fig id="F3" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 3</label>
<caption><p>Sequencing alignment of <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring IncI2 plasmids. The first <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring plasmid, pHNSHP45 with GenBank no. KP347127 which was isolated from E. coli strains from Shanghai in July, 2013 was used as refrence plasmid (black circle). The outmost circle in red arrows denots the annotations of refrence plasmid. The IS683 and ISApl1 are absent in two IncI2 plasmids in this study. Detailed information of <italic>mcr-1</italic> location of plasmids is provided in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figure 2</xref>.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmicb-12-774797-g003.tif"/>
</fig>
<fig id="F4" position="float">
<label>FIGURE 4</label>
<caption><p>Sequencing alignment of <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring IncHI2 plasmids. pHNSHP45-2 with GenBank no. KU341381 which was isolated from E. coli strains was used as refrence plasmid (black circle). The outmost circle in red arrows denots the annotations of refrence plasmid. Among the six IncHI2 plasmids, pSH51, pS52, and pS53 exhibit sequence with the refrence sequence, others are low sequence homology. An MDR region is exhibieted in the five IncHI2 plasmids. Detailed information of <italic>mcr-1</italic> location of plasmids is provided in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F2">Figure 2</xref>.</p></caption>
<graphic mimetype="image" mime-subtype="tiff" xlink:href="fmicb-12-774797-g004.tif"/>
</fig>
</sec>
</sec>
<sec id="S4" sec-type="discussion">
<title>Discussion</title>
<p><italic>Salmonella</italic> is a widespread zoonotic pathogen that can cause human food poisoning and diarrhea (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">Ling et al., 2020</xref>). In general, food poisoning and diarrhea caused by non-typhoidal <italic>Salmonella</italic> (NTS) are self-limited. However, if the patient is young children, older people, and people with weak immune systems, antibiotic therapy will be preferred with multi-drug resistant <italic>Salmonella</italic> infection if the patient is a young child, elderly, or has a weak immune system. Studies have demonstrated that the multidrug resistance rate of <italic>Salmonella</italic> increased to 40% in the last decade of the twentieth century (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6">Elbediwi et al., 2020</xref>). Resistance to fluoroquinolones, azithromycin, and third-generation cephalosporins in NTS species has been reported from numerous countries in the world (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B25">Tack et al., 2020</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1">Appiah et al., 2021</xref>). Among a large number of <italic>Salmonella</italic> serotypes, <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium and the rapid growth of multidrug-resistant has been a subject of concern globally (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Huang et al., 2020</xref>). Colistin is considered as a last-line therapy for multidrug-resistant <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium infection based on its prevalence and has been listed as a significant antibiotic by WHO since 2015 (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13">Li et al., 2017</xref>). As colistin is widely used, bacteria have developed resistance to colistin. 37 <italic>Salmonella</italic> strains were identified harboring the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene among 12,053 <italic>Salmonella</italic> strains collected from diarrhea outpatients under surveillance (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">Lu et al., 2019</xref>), and our finding appeared consistent with previous studies in Shanghai. We identified 11 <italic>mcr-1-</italic>positive strains among 1454 strains of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium (0.76%). Notably, eight strains of <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> were isolated from the feces of children under the age of five (<xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="TS1">Supplementary Table 1</xref>). This observation is consistent with the finding of <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19">Luo et al. (2020)</xref>, in which the majority of the <italic>Salmonella</italic> infection occurs in children under the age of five and patients with inadequate immunity. All <italic>mcr-1</italic> harboring <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains from various sources were resistant to multiple antibiotics. In total, 63.6% of them were resistant to colistin and third-generation cephalosporin. Moreover, one of these strains was isolated from children under 5 years old was resistant to colistin, azithromycin, and third-generation cephalosporins. Considering the important role of azithromycin and third-generation cephalosporins in clinical treatment, this causes concern. ST19 and ST34 were common genotypes in <italic>S</italic>. Typhimurium (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B30">Zhang et al., 2021</xref>). The MDR ST34 <italic>S</italic>. Typhimurium has become a threat to public health due to its carriage of <italic>mcr-1</italic> and <italic>mcr-3</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3">Biswas et al., 2019</xref>), and has been frequently detected in human clinical samples and food samples in China (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B24">Sun et al., 2014</xref>). The PFGE results indicated that <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium that were isolated from various samples and provinces had identical genotypes. For example, <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> strains isolated from children and food in Shanghai were clustered with the <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium in Zhejiang and Henan strains. This result indicated that <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium was prevalent in a number of regions in China. Thus, the monitoring of multidrug-resistant <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains should significantly prevent their spread.</p>
<p>Plasmids play a vital role in the acquisition of colistin resistance caused by drug resistant genes (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20">McGann et al., 2016</xref>). In 2016, China reported the first case of Plasmid-mediated colistin resistance in the form of <italic>mcr-1</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16">Liu et al., 2016</xref>). Colistin resistant gene <italic>mcr-1</italic> was widely spread in animals, the environment, and food in a number of nations and areas throughout the world by plasmid horizontal transfer (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B34">Zurfluh et al., 2017</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Huang et al., 2020</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">Wang Z. et al., 2020</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">Touati and Mairi, 2021</xref>). During plasmid transfer, the plasmid harboring <italic>mcr</italic>-1 exhibited significant diversity in terms of antibiotic resistance patterns, incompatibility groups, and genetic content (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B26">Touati and Mairi, 2021</xref>). In our study, three types of plasmids (IncI2, IncX4, and IncHI2) harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> were identified from 11 S. Typhimurium strains. The first reported <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene was identified in an IncI2 Plasmid. IncI2 and IncX4 plasmids, which promote <italic>Salmonella</italic> resistance, are the two major types of plasmids spreading globally (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2">Arredondo-Alonso et al., 2018</xref>). IncHI2 plasmids are well-known for their role in clinically significant antibiotic resistant genes (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">Hammad et al., 2019</xref>). According to a previous study on <italic>Enterobacteriaceae</italic> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B32">Zingali et al., 2020</xref>), IncHI2 plasmid (216&#x2013;280 kb) is the fifth most common plasmid family containing a multidrug resistance region. it is also one of the major plasmid groups harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene variants. The present study observed a coexistence of plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> and multiple drug resistance genes, including <italic>oqxB</italic>, <italic>bla</italic><sub>TEM</sub>, and <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX</sub> resistance genes. These genes in drug-resistant plasmids were one of the significant factors for the decreased sensitivity of colistin, quinolones, and third-generation cephalosporins. The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance in a particular area was caused by IncHI2 plasmids transfer carrying multiple drug resistance genes between bacteria. MDR IncHI2 plasmids containing <italic>mcr-1</italic> are widely distributed in human pathogens and are the efficient vector for the transmission of <italic>mcr-1</italic> and other drug-resistant genes (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9">Hammad et al., 2019</xref>). Whether MDR IncHI2 plasmids can alter the <italic>Salmonella</italic> resistance phenotype and disseminate rapidly is concerning.</p>
<p>The insertion sequence (IS) family in the bacterial genome with a widely variable DNA sequence in nature is also one of the significant modes for resistance gene transmission between bacterial pathogens. The 11 plasmids are classified into distinct patterns based on the existence of IS elements and the connection with <italic>mcr-1</italic> sites. In our study, IS26 elements are closely related to the IncX4 type plasmid, while the ISApl1 element is closely related to the IncHI2 type plasmid. ISApl1 is consistently associated with the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene and the <italic>mcr-1</italic> gene cassette can be inserted into a variety of genetic loci in different plasmids. Five of the six IncHI2 plasmids contained the ISApl1 insertion sequence located upstream of <italic>mcr-1</italic>, and only one plasmid lacked ISApl1 around <italic>mcr-1</italic>. The IncHI2 backbone structure is considered to be stable (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7">Garcia-Fernandez and Carattoli, 2010</xref>), and the presence of different resistance genes in these plasmids is probably due to the acquisition of different mobile genetic elements (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">Cain and Hall, 2012</xref>). As such, the existence of ISApl1 in our study offers a potential hotspot for involving novel antibiotic resistant genes.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S5" sec-type="conclusion">
<title>Conclusion</title>
<p>The present study describes the genetic characterization of <italic>mcr-1</italic>-positive multidrug-resistant <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium isolated from intestinal infection in children and pork offal in China. Our results indicated that <italic>mcr-1</italic>-positive <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium strains were multidrug-resistant, and one strain was additionally resistant to ceftriaxone and azithromycin. Three types of plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> have respective characteristics regarding IS and resistance genes. Plasmids harboring <italic>mcr-1</italic> and other resistance genes confer resistance to colistin and other multiple antibiotics. Therefore, the findings of this study are critical to estimating the transmission of <italic>mcr-1</italic> and monitoring the international epidemic.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S6" sec-type="data-availability">
<title>Data Availability Statement</title>
<p>The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/<xref ref-type="supplementary-material" rid="FS1">Supplementary Material</xref>.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S7">
<title>Author Contributions</title>
<p>JL, SQ, and HS designed the study. HZ wrote the main manuscript. YX, BL, and XX participated in the specimen collection and revised the manuscript. YH and LW contributed to the bioinformatics data analysis. JX, XD, XH, and LJ participated in data collection. XD, CY, HL (9th author), HL (10th author), HW, and MY performed the experiments. YJ critically revised important knowledge content. YJ, SQ, and HS gave final approval of the version to be submitted. All authors made substantial contributions to preparation and submission of the manuscript.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="conf1" sec-type="COI-statement">
<title>Conflict of Interest</title>
<p>The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="pudiscl1" sec-type="disclaimer">
<title>Publisher&#x2019;s Note</title>
<p>All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.</p>
</sec>
</body>
<back>
<sec id="S8" sec-type="funding-information">
<title>Funding</title>
<p>The present study was funded by grants from the National Key R&#x0026;D Program of China (nos. 2018YFC1603801 and 2017YFC1600105), the National Science and Technology Major Project (nos. 2018ZX10101003 and 2018ZX10714002), and the National Nature Science Foundation of China (nos. 81872678 and 81673237).</p>
</sec>
<sec id="S9" sec-type="supplementary-material">
<title>Supplementary Material</title>
<p>The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.774797/full#supplementary-material">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.774797/full#supplementary-material</ext-link></p>
<supplementary-material xlink:href="Image_1.jpg" id="FS1" mimetype="image/jpeg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
<supplementary-material xlink:href="Image_2.jpg" id="FS2" mimetype="image/jpeg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
<supplementary-material xlink:href="Table_1.doc" id="TS1" mimetype="application/msword" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
</sec>
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<title>References</title>
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