Antibiotic resistance is a serious global public health problem. ESBLs are enzymes that destroy expanded-spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics rendering these drugs ineffective. Infection with ESBL-producing K.pneumoniae are hard to treat and result in longer hospital stay and higher mortality rates. The Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) have standard methods for detection of ESBL producing strains of bacteria in infected patients to guide antibiotic therapy, reduce the risk of mortality and risk of transmission. The presence of K.pneumoniae and E.coli which produce ESBLs have been confirmed in natural environments such as soil and water but no standard methods exist to identify directly and quantify these bacteria to understand the risk of human exposure in these settings. The purpose of this research is to assess the ability of an agar dilution method, using a differential agar Bio-Rad Rapid E.coli 2 agar utilized in environmental water quality studies, to identify correctly ESBL-producing K.pneumoniae. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ceftriaxone antibiotic for wild-type ESBL producing K.pneumoniae isolates were compared on Mueller-Hinton broth (MHB) and Bio-Rad Rapid E.coli 2 agar. Using the MIC values, the isolates were classified as susceptible, intermediate or resistant. The MIC of wild-type strains of K.pneumoniae were above 4μg/mL for both methods on all susceptibility tests performed. The results of this research suggest that Bio-Rad Agar dilution method performed well, correctly identifying these strains as resistant to ceftriaxone, an indication of ESBL production. The Bio-Rad agar dilution method can be considered as a viable standard method for direct identification of ESBL-producing K.pneumoniae in natural environments.

The size and complexity of the oat genomes (Avena L., x = 7) have made genetic studies, including the discovery of molecular markers, difficult. Recent attention to these species has resulted in the development of many DArT -based markers in the tetraploid A. magna Murphy et Terrill (2n = 28, CCDD genomes), along with numerous RFLP's, SSR's, DArT's, and EST-based SNPs in hexaploid A. sativa L. (2n = 42, AACCDD). Here we report the first SNP markers for tetraploid oat based on genome reduction and high-throughput pyrosequencing in two inbred lines of A. magna: A-169 (wild) and Ba 13-13 (domesticated). Initially, the genomes were reduced using restriction digests with EcoRI and BfaI and sequenced to produce 706,426 reads for both genotypes that were subsequently assembled into 57,048 contigs with an average read length of 345 bp. Comparisons of the contigs between the two lines resulted in the detection of 31,304 in silico SNPs. High Resolution Melt (HRM) and KASPar assays were used to validate 1,108 of these in silico SNPs across a panel of diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid oats. Of the assays, 119 were validated using HRM and 384 using KASPar genotyping in the Fluidigm EP1 system. Both sets of assays were then mapped on a population of 117 F2:8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from the A-169 x Ba 13-13 cross. A map of the A. magna genome was then constructed. The markers and map provide a new set of genomic tools for tetraploid and hexaploid oat breeding and allow for tracking of genes controlling traits of economic importance and other interesting genes through the evolution of Avena.