Systematic detection of horizontal gene transfer across genera among multidrug-resistant bacteria in a single hospital

eLife

Melissa I Saul¹  Vaughn S Cooper²  Daria Van Tyne³  Daniel R Evans⁴  Alexander J Sundermann⁵  Lee H Harrison⁵  Kathleen A Shutt⁵  Jane W Marsh⁵  Mustapha M Mustapha⁵  Marissa P Griffith⁵ 

[1] Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, United States;Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, United States;Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, United States;Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, United States;Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, United States;Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory, Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, United States;

关键词: antibiotic resistance;    comparative genomics;    horizontal gene transfer;    genomic epidemiology;    Other;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.53886

来源: publisher

【 摘 要 】

Multidrug-resistant bacteria pose a serious health threat, especially in hospitals. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) facilitates the spread of antibiotic resistance, virulence, and environmental persistence genes between nosocomial pathogens. We screened the genomes of 2173 bacterial isolates from healthcare-associated infections from a single hospital over 18 months, and identified identical nucleotide regions in bacteria belonging to distinct genera. To further resolve these shared sequences, we performed long-read sequencing on a subset of isolates and generated highly contiguous genomes. We then tracked the appearance of ten different plasmids in all 2173 genomes, and found evidence of plasmid transfer independent from bacterial transmission. Finally, we identified two instances of likely plasmid transfer within individual patients, including one plasmid that likely transferred to a second patient. This work expands our understanding of HGT in healthcare settings, and can inform efforts to limit the spread of drug-resistant pathogens in hospitals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY