Strain taxonomy assays yielded six V. cholerae, three V. parahaemolyticus, one Vibrio alginolyticus and one Vibrio natriegens strains (Table 1). All the V. cholerae strains were identified as non-O1/O139 serotypes, while the V. parahaemolyticus strains were identified as O5:KUT serotype. Toxin-related genes were detected by PCR. In all cases, V. cholerae strains were detected as not virulent, since amplification of cholera CT toxin ctxA gene was negative. Among the

V. parahaemolyticus strains, all were detected positive for the tlh gene, but featured no toxic tdh and trh genes. The V. alginolyticus Chn4 was detected negative for the toxic trh gene, whereas V. natriegens yielded no products for the toxic genes tested. Table 1 Phenotypic resistance profiles C646 research buy for antibiotics and heavy metals of

the Vibiro stains harboring SXT7R391-like Paclitaxel order ICEs isolated from aquatic products and environment in the Yangtze River Estuary Strains ICEs Source, year of isolation Resistance to antibiotics Resistance to heavy metals V. cholerae Chn5* ICEVchChn1 Yangze River Estuary, surface water, 2010-2011 STR – V. cholerae Chn64 ICEVchChn2 Yangze River Estuary, surface water, 2010-2011 AMP Hg, Cd, Cu V. cholerae Chn86 ICEVchChn3 Yangze River Estuary, surface water, 2010-2011 – Hg, Cd, Cu V. cholerae Chn91 ICEVchChn4 Yangze River Estuary, surface water, 2010-2011 AMP, RIF Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu V. cholerae Chn92 ICEVchChn5 Yangze River Estuary, surface water, 2010-2011 AMP, RIF Hg, Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu V. cholerae Chn108 * ICEVchChn6 Yangze River Estuary, surface water, 2010-2011 AMP, SUL, STR Hg, Cd, Pb V. parahaemolyticus Chn25* ICEVpaChn1 Shanghai fish markets, shrimps, 2011 BCKDHA SUL, STR – V. parahaemolyticus Chn46 ICEVpaChn2 Shanghai fish markets, shrimps, 2011 AMP – V. parahaemolyticus Chn66 ICEVpaChn3 Shanghai fish markets, shrimps,

2011 AMP Hg, Cd, Pb V. alginolyticus Chn4 ICEValChn1 Shanghai fish markets, shrimps, 2011 AMP Hg, Cd, Pb V. natriegens Chn64 ICEVnaChn1 Shanghai fish markets, shrimps, 2011 AMP, SUL, STR – AMP ampicillin, RIF rifampicin, SUL sulfamethoxazole, STR streptomycin, Cd chromium, Cu copper, Hg mercury, Pb lead, Zn zinc; -: not detected. *The strains were employed as the donors in conjugation experiments. Antimicrobial susceptibility and heavy metal resistance of the Vibrio strains harboring the SXT/R391-like ICEs The eleven Vibrio strains harboring the SXT/R391-like ICEs derived from aquatic products and environment in the Yangtze River Estuary were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing. As summarized in Table 1, all strains were susceptible to five of the ten antimicrobial agents tested, including chloramphenicol, kanamycin, gentamicin, spectinomycin and trimethoprim. Strain V. cholerae Chn86 was susceptible to all the ten agents. It is known that ICEs transfer very diverse functions to allow their host to grow in hostile environments [4].