Comparative Study of Antibiotic Resistance Profile of Enterobacteriaceae Bacterial Isolates from the Gut of Intestinal Air-Breathing Fish, Lepidocephalichthys guntea and its Habitat

Lepidocephalichthys guntea is an intestinal air breathing fish and belonging to the family Cobitidae. It is frequently found in the muddy, low dissolved oxygen, hypoxic and hypercarbic condition. So the comparative study of the antibiotic resistance profile of bacterial isolates from the gut of intestinal air-breathing fish, L guntea and its habitat- small river Lotchka, West Bengal, India was executed. The bacterial isolates belong to the family Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from fish gut and river water sample and identified by Biochemical and tuf gene PCR based procedures. Diverse antibiotic-resistance phenotypes of the heterotrophic strains isolated and purified from the specific river water (the habitat of the fish) were compared with antibiotic-resistance profile of the gut isolates to predict occurrence of horizontal transfer of resistance-traits in the gut-bacteria.