Emergence of XDR high-riskPseudomonas aeruginosaST309 in South America: a global comparative genomic analysis

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been considered one of the major nosocomial pathogens associated with elevated morbidity and mortality worldwide. Outbreaks have been associated with few high-risk pandemic P. aeruginosa lineages, presenting a remarkable antimicrobial resistance. However, the biological features involved with the persistence and spread of such lineages among clinical settings remain to be unravel. This study reports the emergence of the ST309 P. aeruginosa lineage in South America/Brazil, more precisely, in the Amazon region. Global genomic analyses were performed with the Brazilian strain (PA834) and more 41 complete and draft ST309 genomes publicly available, giving insights about ST309 epidemiology and its resistome and mobilome. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests revealed that the Brazilian PA834 strain presented the XDR phenotype, which was mainly due to intrinsic resistance mechanisms. Genomic analyses revealed a heterogeneous distribution of acquired antimicrobial resistance genes among ST309 genomes, which included blaVIM-2, blaIMP-15 and qnrVC1, all of them associated with class 1 integrons. The mobilome mining showed the presence of Integrative and Conjugative Elements, transposons and genomic islands harbouring a huge arsenal of hevy metal resistance genes. Moreover, these elements also carried genes involved with virulence and adaptive traits. Therefore, the presence of such genes in ST309 lineage possibly accounted for the global spread and persistence of this emerging clone, and for its establishment as a pandemic lineage of clinical importance.

Informing plasmid compatibility with bacterial hosts using protein-protein interaction data

“…This operon encodes a T4P with two main known isoforms [94], had 14 genes on pEK204, and is a virulence factor for P. aeruginosa [95][96]. A ten-gene pil operon is involved in conjugation of pathogenicity island PAPI-1 in P. aeruginosa PA14 independently of pEK204 [95] that has been linked to P. aeruginosa ST309 infection outbreaks [97], and pil genes form part of an integrative conjugative element Pac_ICE1 in P. syringae pv actinidiae [98]. Notably, pil may be more associated with aqueous environments, and the loss of pil genes from PAPI-1 has been associated with better acute human lung [99] and mouse gut [100] infection, perhaps due to Pil proteins acting as cell surface antigens [101].…”

Public Health Response to Pan-ResistantPseudomonas aeruginosaSequence Type 309 with Tandem Guiana Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases – Genetic Characterization andIn VivoEfficacy Assessment using Translational Murine Model

“…Extensively drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa ST-309 has been reported as an emerging high-risk healthcare-associated pathogen. (2,6,9). After case review, no epidemiological links were identified between the cases, despite being closely related.…”