The AmpC β-lactamases genes (blaCITM and blaDHAM) were amplified by PCR using plasmid DNA preparation as template. The primers used for blaCITM gene was CLR5-F (5ʹ TGG CCA GAA CTG ACA GGC AAA −3ʹ) and CLR5-R (5ʹ- TTT CTC CTG AAC GTG GCT GGC −3ʹ) as forward and reverse primer respectively while the primers for blaDHAM gene was forward sequence DHAM for (5ʹ AAC TTT CAC AGG TGT GCT GGG −3ʹ) and reverse sequence DHAM_rev (3ʹ CCG TAC GCA TAC TGG CTT TGC −5ʹ).11 (link) Reaction volume was set as 25µL by adding 12.5µL of 1X master mix (5× HOT FIREPol Blend Master Mix Ready to Load, Solis BioDyne, Estonia), 0.5µL each of the forward and reverse primers and 4µL of DNA template and ddH2O 7.5µL. The optimized PCR amplification of both the genes was 94ºC for 3 mins for initial denaturation; 35 cycles of denaturation at 94ºC for 30 seconds; 25 cycles of annealing at 62ºC for 30 seconds; 35 cycles of extension at 72º for 1 min; and final extension at 72ºC for 7 mins.11 (link),27 (link)