NDM-1-encoding plasmid in Acinetobacter chengduensis isolated from coastal water

Laís Lisboa Corrêa; Gabriela Bergiante Kraychete; Antonio Mauro Rezende; Eloiza Helena Campana; Daiana Lima-Morales; Priscila Lamb Wink; Renata Cristina Picão

doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104926

NDM-1-encoding plasmid in Acinetobacter chengduensis isolated from coastal water

Infect Genet Evol. 2021 Sep:93:104926. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104926. Epub 2021 May 18.

Authors

Laís Lisboa Corrêa¹, Gabriela Bergiante Kraychete¹, Antonio Mauro Rezende², Eloiza Helena Campana³, Daiana Lima-Morales⁴, Priscila Lamb Wink⁴, Renata Cristina Picão⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Investigação em Microbiologia Médica (LIMM), Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
² Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto Aggeu Magalhães-FIOCRUZ, Recife, PE, Brazil.
³ Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil.
⁴ Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa em Resistência a Antimicrobianos, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
⁵ Laboratório de Investigação em Microbiologia Médica (LIMM), Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Electronic address: renata.picao@micro.ufrj.br.

PMID: 34020069
DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.104926

Abstract

Background: Acinetobacter spp. may cause difficult-to-treat nosocomial infections due to acquisition of carbapenemases, including New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM). This genus has been pointed out as a possible actor in the early dissemination of bla_NDM, and this gene has been documented in a variety of species.

Objective: Here we describe an Acinetobacter chengduensis (isolate FL51) carrying bla_NDM recovered from coastal water in Brazil.

Methods: In vitro techniques included antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration tests, PCR, plasmid profile and matting-out/transformation assays. In silico approaches comprised comparative genomic analyses using appropriate databases.

Results: FL51 grew at room temperature in a variety of culture media, excluding MacConkey. It showed resistance to all beta-lactams tested and to ciprofloxacin. bla_NDM-1 was identified, and a single replicon was observed in plasmid profile. In silico DNA hybridization revealed Acinetobacter FL51 as being Acinetobacter chengduensis. bla_NDM-1 was flanked upstream by ISAba14-aphA6-ISAba125 and downstream by ble_MBL-trpF-Δtat, inserted in a 41,068 bp non typeable plasmid named pNDM-FL51. This replicon showed high coverage and identity with other sequences present in plasmids deposited on the GenBank database, recovered almost exclusively from Acinetobacter spp., associated with hospital settings and animal sources.

Conclusion: We described a recently described environmental Acinetobacter species carrying a plasmid-borne bla_NDM associated with a Tn125-like structure. Our findings suggest that replicon may play an important role in bla_NDM dissemination among distinct settings within this genus and may support the theory of bla_NDM emergence from an environmental Acinetobacter.

Keywords: Carbapenemase; Plasmid; Tn125; Transposon.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acinetobacter / genetics
Acinetobacter / isolation & purification*
Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
Brazil
Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Plasmids / genetics*
Seawater / microbiology
beta-Lactamases / genetics*

Substances

Bacterial Proteins
beta-Lactamases
beta-lactamase NDM-1