Rhizosphere of water hyacinth as a niche for multidrug resistant Aeromonas taiwanensis and Paenibacillus taiwanensis: A study from a tropical wetland of South India

The present study highlights the prevalence of multidrug resistant bacteria in the rhizosphere of a floating nuisant weed, water hyacinth growing in a tropical wetland of South India. The isolated strains from the rhizosphere were subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and identified as Aeromonas taiwanensis and Paenibacillus taiwanensis. The identified strains were tested for the multidrug (13 antibiotics) resistance and pathogenicity. Both A. taiwanensis and P. taiwanensis were found to be multidrug resistant and only A.taiwanensis showed the pathogenicity. The present study is the first report on the prevalence of A. taiwanensis and P. taiwanensis in the rhizosphere of water hyacinth.