Characterisation of blaTEM genes and types of β-lactamase plasmids in Neisseria gonorrhoeae – the prevalent and conserved blaTEM-135 has not recently evolved and existed in the Toronto plasmid from the origin

BMC Infectious Diseases

Magnus Unemo⁵  Manju Bala²  Martin Sundqvist⁵  Shu-ichi Nakayama¹  Shao-chun Chen⁷  Sunil Sethi⁶  Makoto Ohnishi¹  Åsa Johansson⁴  Jo-Anne R Dillon³  Daniel Golparian⁵  Ibrahim Muhammad⁵ 

[1] National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan;Apex Regional STD Teaching, Training and Research Centre, VMMC and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, India;Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada;Department of Clinical Microbiology, Central Hospital, Växjö, Sweden;Department of Laboratory Medicine, WHO Collaborating Centre for Gonorrhoea and other Sexually Transmitted Infections, National Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria, Microbiology, Örebro University Hospital, SE-701 85, Örebro, Sweden;Department of Medical Microbiology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India;National Center for STD Control, Chinese CDC, Nanjing, China

关键词: Rio/Toronto plasmid, Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL);    TEM-135;    TEM-1;    bla_TEM-135;    bla_TEM-1;    Antimicrobial resistance;    Gonorrhoea;   

Others  :  1125800
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-14-454

 received in 2014-06-16, accepted in 2014-08-18,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major concern worldwide. It has been recently feared that the bla_TEM-1 gene is, via bla_TEM-135, evolving into an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL), which could degrade all cephalosporins including ceftriaxone. The aims of the present study were to characterize the bla_TEM genes, types of β-lactamase plasmids, the degradation of ampicillin by TEM-135 compared to TEM-1, and to perform molecular epidemiological typing of β-lactamase-producing N. gonorrhoeae strains internationally.

Methods

β-lactamase producing N. gonorrhoeae isolates (n = 139) cultured from 2000 to 2011 in 15 countries were examined using antibiograms, bla_TEM gene sequencing, β-lactamase plasmid typing, and N. gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST). Furthermore, the bla_TEM gene was sequenced in the first described Toronto plasmid (pJD7), one of the first Asian plasmids (pJD4) and African plasmids (pJD5) isolated in Canada. The degradation of ampicillin by TEM-135 compared to TEM-1 was examined using a MALDI-TOF MS hydrolysis assay.

Results

Six different bla_TEM sequences were identified (among isolates with 125 different NG-MAST STs), i.e. bla_TEM-1 (in 104 isolates), bla_TEM-135 (in 30 isolates), and four novel bla_TEM sequences (in 5 isolates). The bla_TEM-1 allele was only found in the African and Asian plasmids, while all Rio/Toronto plasmids possessed the bla_TEM-135 allele. Most interesting, the first described gonococcal Toronto plasmid (pJD7), identified in 1984, also possessed the highly conserved bla_TEM-135 allele. The degradation of ampicillin by TEM-135 compared to TEM-1 was indistinguishable in the MALDI-TOF MS hydrolysis assay.

Conclusions

bla_TEM-135, encoding TEM-135, is predominantly and originally associated with the Rio/Toronto plasmid and prevalent among the β-lactamase producing gonococcal strains circulating globally. bla_TEM-135 does not appear, as previously hypothesized, to have recently evolved due to some evolutionary selective pressure, for example, by the extensive use of extended-spectrum cephalosporins worldwide. On the contrary, the present study shows that bla_TEM-135 existed in the Toronto plasmid from its discovery and that bla_TEM-135 is highly conserved (not further evolved in the past >30 years). Nevertheless, international studies for monitoring the presence of different bla_TEM alleles, the possible evolution of the bla_TEM-135 allele, and the types of β-lactamase producing plasmids, remain imperative.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Muhammad et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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