Short Communication qnrD-harboring plasmids in Providencia spp. recovered from food and environmental Brazilian sources Gabriela Bergiante Kraychete, Eloiza Helena Campana, Renata Cristina Picão, Raquel Regina Bonelli ⁎ Laboratório de Investigação em Microbiologia Médica (LIMM), Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil HIGHLIGHTS • qnrD-harboring plasmids were identi- fied in Brazilian food and coastal water. • First description of environmental Providencia spp. carrying qnrD-plasmids • High identity of qnrD-harboring plasmid in clinical and environmental Providencia sp. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 27 April 2018 Received in revised form 26 July 2018 Accepted 26 July 2018 Available online 27 July 2018 Editor: Holden QnrD is a plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) determinant first reported in clinical Salmonella enterica isolates from China, located on nonconjugative plasmids of 4270 bp. Since then, the qnrD gene has been mostly found on plasmids around 2683 bp in Proteus and Morganella genera. However, Providencia spp. strains carrying qnrD-harboring plasmids have only been reported among clinical samples, in France and China. In this paper we describe two plasmids carrying qnrD in Providencia spp. isolated from Brazilian food and coastal waters. These plasmids present high coverage and identity with those recovered in France. Our re- sults emphasize the relevance of the Proteeae tribe as reservoirs of qnrD and include P. rettgeri as a possible envi- ronmental carrier of this gene. © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: qnrD qnr-Harboring plasmids Providencia spp. Antimicrobial resistance in the environment Qnr proteins protect bacterial topoisomerases from quinolone activ- ity, conferring slight susceptibility reduction to these antimicrobial agents (Rodríguez-Martínez et al., 2016). Studies have demonstrated that the presence of these proteins reduce the efficacy of treatments based on fluoroquinolones (Rodríguez-Martínez et al., 2008; Allou et al., 2009; Jakobsen et al., 2012). The plasmid-mediated quinolone re- sistance (PMQR) determinant Qnr is spread worldwide, mainly among Enterobacteriaceae, often located on large conjugative multidrug- resistance plasmids. Until now, seven Qnr families have been described, including QnrA, QnrS, QnrB, QnrC, QnrD, QnrVC and QnrE (Rodríguez- Martínez et al., 2016; Albornoz et al., 2017). The qnrD1 gene was first reported in Salmonella enterica, located on small nonconjugative plasmids of 4270 bp (p2007057) (Cavaco et al., 2009). Subsequently, this gene was described in two clinical isolates of Providencia rettgeri recovered in France, in 2683 bp nonconjugative plasmids (pDIJ09-518a and pGHS09-09a) which exhibited only 53% of identity with the plasmid found in S. enterica (Guillard et al., 2012). Science of the Total Environment 646 (2019) 1290–1292 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: raquel.bonelli@micro.ufrj.br (R.R. Bonelli). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.378 0048-9697/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv