Genetic characterization and virulence determinants of multidrug-resistant NDM-1-producing Aeromonas caviae

Xinjun Hu; Huanran Zhang; Yi Liu; Xiaojing Liu; Jie Qiao; Haoyu Ge; Junhui Zhao; Xiaohan Ma; Mantao Chen; Ruishan Liu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1055654

Genetic characterization and virulence determinants of multidrug-resistant NDM-1-producing Aeromonas caviae

Front Microbiol. 2023 Jan 16:13:1055654. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1055654. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xinjun Hu¹, Huanran Zhang^{2

3}, Yi Liu⁴, Xiaojing Liu^{4

5}, Jie Qiao⁴, Haoyu Ge⁴, Junhui Zhao⁴, Xiaohan Ma^{4

6}, Mantao Chen⁷, Ruishan Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Clinical Medicine, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
³ Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Aging and Physic-Chemical Injury Diseases of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Structure and Morphology, Jinan Microecological Biomedicine Shandong Laboratory, Jinan, China.
⁶ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beihua University, Jilin, China.
⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

The emergence of carbapenemase significantly threatens public health. It is prevalent worldwide but rare in Aeromonas caviae. Unlike most bacterial species, A. caviae has two distinct flagella systems, which are closely related to biofilm formation. The ability to form biofilms on host tissues or inert surfaces constitutes an important cause of many persistent infections, which causes difficulties in clinical treatment. Here, we report on a multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. caviae carrying bla _NDM-1 with a novel sequence type 1,416. The strong ability of biofilm formation of FAHZZU2447 was verified by a crystal violet assay. The resistome profile and location of the bla _NDM-1 gene were determined by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, S1 nuclease pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (S1-PFGE), and Southern blot analysis. Moreover, the strain underwent whole-genome sequencing to identify its genomic characteristics. In addition, the bla _NDM-1 gene was located on a ∼243 kb plasmid with genetic context IS1R-bla _NDM-1-ble-trpF-dsbD-hp-sul1-qacE. Phylogenetic analysis indicated the transmission of A. caviae in China, Japan, and Thailand. Our study aimed to elucidate the genomic features of bla _NDM-1-producing A. caviae, thereby clarifying the distribution of A. caviae worldwide and emphasizing the harmfulness of biofilm formation to the clinic. Further comprehensive surveillance of this species is needed to control further dissemination.

Keywords: Aeromonas caviae; biofilm formation; blaNDM–1; phylogenetic analysis; whole-genome sequencing.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFE0204300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072314), the Research Project of Jinan Microecological Biomedicine Shandong Laboratory (JNL-2022011B), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2022ZFJH003), CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2019-I2M-5-045), and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ20H200003).