High incidence of multiple antibiotic resistant cells in cultures of in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7

•marR gene mutations occur at a higher frequency in Escherichia coli O157:H7 than E. coli K-12.•rpsL, rpsE and rpoB mutations occur at the same frequency in both E. coli strains.•E. coli O157:H7 marR mutant strains can become tolerant to beta-lactam antibiotics.

The spontaneous incidence of chloramphenicol (Cam) resistant mutant bacteria is at least ten-fold higher in cultures of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 strain EDL933 than in E. coli K-12. It is at least 100-fold higher in the dam (DNA adenine methyltransferase) derivative of EDL933, compared to the dam strain of E. coli K-12, thereby preventing the use of Cam resistance as a marker in gene replacement technology. Genome sequencing of Cam-resistant isolates of EDL933 and its dam derivatives showed that the marR (multiple antibiotic resistance) gene was mutated in every case but not in the Cam-sensitive parental strains. As expected from mutation in the marR gene, the Cam-resistant bacteria were also found to be resistant to tetracycline and nalidixic acid. The marR gene in strain EDL933 is annotated as a shorter open reading frame than that in E. coli K-12 but the longer marR+ open reading frame was more efficient at complementing the marR antibiotic-resistance phenotype of strain EDL933. Beta-lactamase-tolerant derivatives were present at frequencies 10–100 times greater in cultures of marR derivatives of strain EDL933 than the parent strain. Spontaneous mutation frequency to rifampicin, spectinomycin and streptomycin resistance was the same in E. coli O157:H7 and E. coli K-12 strains.