Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University Veterinary Research Forum 2008-8140 12 4 2021 12 15 Molecular detection and analysis of virulence genes in multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli from infected broilers 505 510 246176 10.30466/vrf.2020.115921.2762 EN Kazi Faizul Azim Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, Bangladesh 0000-0001-9613-6559 Saneya Risa Somana Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, Bangladesh 0000-0002-6453-4285 Md Kamrul Hasan Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh Md Javed Foysal Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia Md Hazrat Ali Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh Tanjia Afrin Chowdhury Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, Bangladesh Md Nazmul Hossain Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, Bangladesh 0000-0002-2192-0055 Journal Article 2019 10 20 <em>Escherichia coli</em> associated infections are major threats in poultry industry owing to severe economic losses each year. This study was conducted to identify <em>E. coli</em> isolates, to evaluate their antibiotic sensitivity and to find out their virulence patterns from infected broilers of Sylhet city in Bangladesh. Using polymerase chain reaction, a total 20 isolates were identified as <em>E. coli</em> from 11 chickens, exhibiting symptoms like colibacillosis and/or diarrhea. All isolates were positive for type-1 fimbrial adhesion (<em>fimH</em>), followed by putative avian hemolysin (<em>hlyF</em>) in 17 isolates; while none of the isolates was amplified with intimin (<em>eaeA</em>). Among 10 tested antibiotics, 100% of the isolates (n = 20) showed resistance to ampicillin, amoxicillin and tetra-cycline; but they were 100% sensitive to gentamicin. Organ specific correlations of antibiotic sensitivity were obtained among the isolates through principal component analysis (PCA) and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC). The 16S rRNA data of two multi-drug resistant isolates revealed closed clustering with clinical <em>E. coli</em> strains which could be indication of their zoonotic potential. In conclusion, the results depict higher prevalence of <em>fimH</em> and <em>hlyF</em> genes and drug resistance patterns of <em>E. coli</em> isolates from broilers in Sylhet city of Bangladesh. https://vrf.iranjournals.ir/article_246176_5602c207033cc58e1887a724268c8d6e.pdf