Abundant diversity of accessory genetic elements and associated antimicrobial resistance genes in pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from a single Chinese hospital

• Published in: Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 51
• Main Authors: Mu, Xiaofei, Li, Xinyue, Yin, Zhe, Jing, Ying, Chen, Fangzhou, Gao, Huixia, Zhang, Zhi, Tian, Yueyang, Guo, Huiqian, Lu, Xiuhui, He, Jiaqi, Zheng, Yali, Zhou, Dongsheng, Wang, Peng, Dai, Erhei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 29.06.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Accessory genetic elements; Adaptability; Age; Analysis; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Infective Agents; Antibiotic resistance; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Bacteria; Bioinformatics; Biological diversity; Chromosomes; Clinical isolates; Cloning; Control; Dissection; Drug resistance; Drug resistance in microorganisms; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - genetics; Epidemiology; Evolution; Gene sequencing; Genes; Genetic analysis; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genome sequencing; Genomes; Glycation End Products, Advanced; Hospitals; Humans; Identification and classification; MLST; Modular structures; Multidrug resistance; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Nosocomial infections; Plasmids; Polymerase chain reaction; Prevention; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Pseudomonas aeruginosa - genetics; T3SS-related virulotypes; Transposons; Virulence; Virulence (Microbiology); China; United States > US; Accessory genetic elements; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Antimicrobial resistance; Genome sequencing; MLST; T3SS-related virulotypes
• ISSN: 1476-0711; 1476-0711
• DOI: 10.1186/s12941-023-00600-3

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has intrinsic antibiotic resistance and the strong ability to acquire additional resistance genes. However, a limited number of investigations provide detailed modular structure dissection and evolutionary analysis of accessory genetic elements (AGEs) and associated resistance genes (ARGs) in P. aeruginosa isolates. The objective of this study is to reveal the prevalence and transmission characteristics of ARGs by epidemiological investigation and bioinformatics analysis of AGEs of P. aeruginosa isolates taken from a Chinese hospital. Draft-genome sequencing was conducted for P. aeruginosa clinical isolates (n = 48) collected from a single Chinese hospital between 2019 and 2021. The clones of P. aeruginosa isolates, type 3 secretion system (T3SS)-related virulotypes, and the resistance spectrum were identified using multilocus sequence typing (MLST), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. In addition, 17 of the 48 isolates were fully sequenced. An extensive modular structure dissection and genetic comparison was applied to AGEs of the 17 sequenced P. aeruginosa isolates. From the draft-genome sequencing, 13 STs were identified, showing high genetic diversity. BLAST search and PCR detection of T3SS genes (exoT, exoY, exoS, and exoU) revealed that the exoS+/exoU- virulotype dominated. At least 69 kinds of acquired ARGs, involved in resistance to 10 different categories of antimicrobials, were identified in the 48 P. aeruginosa isolates. Detailed genetic dissection and sequence comparisons were applied to 25 AGEs from the 17 isolates, together with five additional prototype AGEs from GenBank. These 30 AGEs were classified into five groups -- integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs), unit transposons, Inc plasmids, Inc plasmids, and Inc plasmids. This study provides a broad-scale and deeper genomics understanding of P. aeruginosa isolates taken from a single Chinese hospital. The isolates collected are characterized by high genetic diversity, high virulence, and multiple drug resistance. The AGEs in P. aeruginosa chromosomes and plasmids, as important genetic platforms for the spread of ARGs, contribute to enhancing the adaptability of P. aeruginosa in hospital settings.