determiningregion(QRDR).Asinglemutation in this region results in a high resistance to nalidixic acid but not to fluoroquinolones, for whichadditionalmutationsarenecessary.For this reason, the minimum inhibitory concen‐ tration(MIC)ofnalidixicacidcanbeusedasa genetic marker of Gram‐negative bacterial resistancetothequinolonefamily(10). In plasmid‐mediated resistance, the qnr gene (4,5,16)ispassedfromonebacteriatoanother by horizontal transfer, increasing mutation frequencyandthusthelikelihoodofincreased resistance (18). Plasmid‐mediated quinolone resistance is related to the presence of structures called integrons, which are mobile DNA elements made up of two conserved segments which flank a central region containingafragment(‘cassette’)thatcodesfor antibiotic resistance and may play an importantroleintheacquisitionandspreadof antibioticresistancegenes.Theqnrgeneisalso found within an integron (16). In Gram‐ negative bacteria, class1 integrons are predominant(4). Given the fact that the chromosomal location of qnr genes was recently demonstrated by differentauthors,itwasinsufficienttoanalyse samplesonlyfortheplasmid. The molecular screening was the first step since bacterial fluoroquinolone resistance can be supported by both plasmid and chromosomal genetic elements. We attempted to determine the molecular basis of resistance phenotypes of fluoroquinolone resistant strains. After finding a mutation on chromosomal genes gyrA and gyrB, the research focused not only on the presence of plasmids, but also on fluoroquinolone resistancegenes(qnr)carriedbytheplasmid. Thisstudyevaluated,innalidixicacid‐resistant E.coli isolated from faeces of cattle and chicken, possible quinolone and fluoro‐ quinolone resistance through integron detection via hybridisation and subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to reveal the qnr gene. Strains were also subjected to PCR‐ restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)andsequencingtorevealanygyrAand gyrB point mutations. In vitro resistance was