Determination of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance of bacteria isolated from Eastern Mediterranean coastline

In this study, heavy metal and antibiotic resistance of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria isolated from seawater samples taken from Eastern Mediterranean coastline were determined and molecular characterization of tetracycline resistance was aimed. A total of 426 bacteria were isolated from the samples. The highest detected bacteria were Escherichia coli with 27.9%, the others Enterobacter cloacae (19.95%), Shigella sp. Enterobacter aerogenes (7.70%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (7%). 99% of the isolates were found to have multiple antibiotic resistance index values greater than 0.2. The isolates were found to be most resistant to ampicillin, gentamicin and tetracycline. It was determined that 83% of bacteria showed copper, 68% nickel, 66% cadmium and 9% against lead. In isolates, 97% of tetA gene, 80% of tetB gene, 67% of tetC gene, 80% of tetD gene, 70% of tetE gene, 30% of tetM gene, 73% of tetW gene and 27% of tetX gene were detected. Key words: Antibiotic Resistance, Heavy Metal Resistance, Enterobacteriaceae, Tetracycline Resistance Genes, Eastern Mediterranean Coast