In this study, we investigated the colistin heteroresistance patterns in Acinetobacter baumannii isolates. To identify colistin heteroresistance, population analysis profiling was performed for six ...in vitro colistin-susceptible A. baumannii isolates. Survival rates with and without prior exposure to colistin (at concentrations between 0 and 32 mg/L) were measured in media with and without colistin. Amino acid substitutions were also detected in colonies that survived in media with 4 mg/L colistin without further antibiotic treatment in six A. baumannii isolates. A stability test was also performed to investigate whether colistin resistance is maintained without antibiotic treatment. Although only three isolates showed typical colistin heteroresistance pattern, colistin-resistant populations were identified even without prior exposure to colistin in all A. baumannii isolates. Nearly all colonies of typical colistin-heteroresistant isolates (Type I heteroresistance) that survived after exposure to high colistin concentrations were found to be colistin-resistant, whereas no resistant colonies were identified in the other isolates (Type II heteroresistance). Stability tests showed that most of the surviving populations in media with 4 mg/L colistin without further antibiotic exposure failed to preserve resistance to colistin. Colistin-resistant populations also showed either no change in amino acid sequences, or diverse amino acid substitutions. We identified two types of colistin heteroresistance in A. baumannii isolates. Because Type I colistin-heteroresistant A. baumannii isolates could not be eradicated in vitro by high concentrations of colistin, differentiating two colistin heteroresistance types would be important for the treatment of A. baumannii infections using colistin.
Weeds are notorious plant species exhibiting a harmful impact on crops. Biological weed control is an efficient and environmentally friendly technique, usually constitutes naturally derived ...compounds, including bioherbicidal metabolites produced by Streptomyces sp. The isolation and structural identification of phytotoxic compounds from Streptomyces have recently been proposed as an effective way to the discovery of novel bioherbicides. In the screening of bioherbicidal agents, isolated Streptomyces strain KRA17-580 demonstrated significant phytotoxic activity against Digitaria ciliaris. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence indicated that isolated KRA17-580 is similar to Streptomyces olivochromogenes. The bacterial culture conditions were optimized for temperature, agitation, and initial pH. Streptomyces strain KRA17-580 showed intense phytotoxic activity and high cell mass at an initial pH of 5.5–7.0, more than 150 rpm, and 25–30 °C. The herbicidal compounds isolated from the culture filtrate of strain KRA17-580 were purified by solvent partition, C18, Sephadex LH20 column chromatography, and high-performance liquid chromatography. By 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis, the 580-H1 and 580-H2 compounds were identified as a cinnoline-4-carboxamide (M W, 173.0490; C9H7N3O2) and cinnoline-4-carboxylic acid (M W, 174.0503; C9H6N2O2), respectively. Only these two herbicidal compounds showed strong phytotoxic activity against D. ciliaris in foliar applications. However, compound 580-H2 was more phytotoxic than 580-H1 and the toxicity was dose-dependent. The herbicidal metabolite KRA17-580 produced by Streptomyces sp. is a new bioherbicidal candidate that may provide a new lead molecule for more efficient phytotoxic compounds.
Abstract Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia is a serious and possibly fatal condition. It is important to determine the likelihood of P. aeruginosa bacteremia when Gram-negative sepsis is ...suspected in community-onset infection. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study to identify the risk factors for P. aeruginosa infection in community-onset Gram-negative bacteremia. Results A total of 106 patients with P. aeruginosa bacteremia and a total 508 patients with E. coli bacteremia were included in this study. Factors associated with P. aeruginosa bacteremia in the multivariate analysis included presentation with neutropenia, presentation with septic shock, indwelling central venous catheter, and health-care-associated infection (all P <.05). The 30-day mortality rate was 26.4% in patients with P. aeruginosa and 13.6% in those with E. coli bacteremia ( P <.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that risk factors for mortality included a P. aeruginosa bacteremia, inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy, a higher Charlson's weighted index of comorbidity, and a higher Pitt bacteremia score (all P <.05). In addition, urinary tract infection and benign pancreatobiliary disease were found to be protective factors for mortality based on multivariate analysis (all P <.05). Conclusions Our data suggest that initial empirical antimicrobial coverage of P. aeruginosa should be seriously considered in patients with neutropenia, presentation with septic shock, indwelling central venous catheter, or health-care-associated infection, when Gram-negative sepsis is suspected in community-onset infection.
•We report an Enterobacter ludwigii clinical isolate with a plasmid co-harbouring mobile colistin resistance (mcr)-9 and blaIMP-1.•Five tandem repeats of blaIMP-1 and aac(6′)-Il genes were identified ...in the plasmid.•We found that the convergence of mcr and carbapenemase genes would be host-dependent among Enterobacteriaceae.
In this study, we describe an Enterobacter ludwigii clinical isolate that is resistant to both carbapenems and colistin in South Korea. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that E. ludwigii CRE2104-31 was non-susceptible to all tested antibiotics except fosfomycin. Whole genome sequencing identified a 323-kbp IncHI2 plasmid, pCRE2104-31a, that was co-harbouring mobile colistin resistance (mcr)-9.1 and blaIMP-1. In comparison with other full plasmids, pCRE2104-31a exhibited the closest similarity to a plasmid from the Klebsiella pneumoniae strain CNR48 from France, with 19.9% query coverage and 99% identity. Notably, we observed five tandem repeats of blaIMP-1 and aac(6′)-Il genes, accompanied by multiple attCs within a class I integron on the Tn402-like transposon. The unit of blaIMP-1-attC-aac(6′)-Il-attC might have accumulated due to multiple convergent events. In addition to mcr-9.1 and blaIMP-1, various other antibiotic resistance-associated genes were identified in the plasmid, as follows: blaTEM-1B, aph(3′)-I, aph(3′)-Ia, aac(6′)-Il, aac(6′)-IIc, aac(6′)-IIa, aph(6)-Id, aph(3′')-Ib, aadA2b, aac(6′)-Ib3, sul, dfrA19, qnrB2, aac(6′)-Ib-cr, ere(A), and qacE. A conjugation assay showed that the mcr-9.1/blaIMP-1-co-bearing plasmid was self-transmissible to E. coli J53. However, colistin and carbapenem resistance could not be transferred to E. coli due to high incompatibility. The convergence of mcr and carbapenemase genes is thought to be host-dependent among Enterobacteriaceae. The emergence of extensively drug-resistant E. ludwigii co-harbouring MCR-9.1 and a multicopy of blaIMP-1 would pose a significant threat within the compatible Enterobacteriaceae.
is one of the most important nosocomial pathogens, and thus it is required to investigate how it disseminate in hospitals and infect patients. We performed whole genome sequencing for 24
strains ...isolated successively from the blood of a single patient to evaluate whether repeated infections were due to re-infection or relapse infection and to investigate within-host evolution. The whole genome of the first strain, BL1, was sequenced
using the PacBio RSII system. BL2-BL24, were sequenced with an Illumina Hiseq4000 and mapped to the genome sequences of BL1. We identified 42 single-nucleotide variations among the strains. The SNVs differentiated the strains into three groups, BL1, BL2-BL16, and BL17-BL24, indicating that the patient suffered from re-infections or co-infections by similar, but different strains. The results also showed that
strains in each group were rather stable at the genomic level. Our study emphasizes the importance of intensive infection control.
The two plasmids extracted from Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 147 (ST147) isolates were analyzed. The first isolate was obtained from a patient transferred from United Arab Emirates to South ...Korea. The second isolate was obtained from a Korean patient and was suspected to be transmitted from the first patient. Sequences of two plasmids were almost the same, and genetic structures, including blaNDM-5, of these plasmids were similar to plasmids of NDM-1-producing Escherichia coli ST131 isolates found in Europe.
After 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) introduction, non-vaccine serotypes such as 19A are increasing among Streptococcus pneumoniae. However, only limited data on 19A S. pneumoniae are ...available in Asian countries.
Out of 1637 S. pneumoniae clinical pneumonia isolates collected during 2008 and 2009 from 10 Asian countries (Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam), 91 serotype 19A S. pneumoniae isolates were identified. Capsular swelling reaction identified serotype 19A isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed on the serotype 19A isolates using the broth microdilution method, and the genotypes of the isolates were assessed using multilocus sequence typing.
Thirty different sequence types (STs) were identified. The most prevalent clone was ST320 (46 isolates, 51.1%). ST320 was found in Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan. ST320 isolates were mostly multidrug resistant (MDR) and showed significantly higher resistance rates than other STs for cefuroxime, clindamycin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.
Although diverse clones were identified among 19A S. pneumoniae isolates, MDR ST320 was the predominant clone in Asian countries. Its predominance, even in countries with no or low coverage of PCV7, may indicate that its emergence and dissemination was due to more than just vaccine selection pressure in Asian countries. A longitudinal investigation of the change of serotypes and genotypes since the introduction of PCV7 is required to understand the emergence and dissemination mechanisms of a certain clone of 19A S. pneumoniae isolates.
Plasmid pKP12226 was extracted and analyzed from a CTX-M-15-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 11 (ST11) isolate collected in South Korea. The plasmid represents chimeric characteristics ...consisting of a pIP1206-like backbone and lysogenized phage P1-like sequences. It bears a resistance region that includes resistance genes to several antibiotics and is different from previously characterized plasmids from South Korea bearing blaCTX-M-15. It may have resulted from recombination between an Escherichia coli plasmid backbone, a blaCTX-M-15-bearing resistance region, and lysogenized phage P1-like sequences.