Agriculturally sourced multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli for use as control strains

The environment plays a crucial role in the spread of antibiotic resistance, however environmental surveillance efforts lag far behind clinical surveillance. Natural and human- impacted soil and water are considered major sources of antibiotic resistance in medical and veterinary diagnostics, and the lack of environmental and agricultural surveillance data hinders efforts to assess management impacts or estimate risk. Here we introduce two agriculturally sourced, fully characterized, and genetically sequenced control strains for use in surveillance of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing (ESBL) and tetracycline-resistant Escherichia coli in the environment, available via publicly accessible culture collections. Abstract Figure