Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii from Brazil: role of carO alleles expression and blaOXA-23 gene

BMC Microbiology

Research Article

Rosângela Cipriano¹  Fernanda S Freitas²  Ana Carolina P Vicente²  Erica Lourenço Fonseca²  Erica Scheidegger² 

[1] Departamento de Medicina 1, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil;Laboratório de Genética Molecular de Microrganismos, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;

关键词: Car;    OXA-23;    Expression;    Imipenem resistance;    Acinetobacter;    Brazil;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2180-13-245

 received in 2013-07-02, accepted in 2013-10-18,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCarbapenems are the antibiotics of choice to treat infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii, and resistance to this class can be determined by loss of membrane permeability and enzymatic mechanisms. Here, we analyzed the basis of carbapenem resistance in clinical A. baumannii isolates from different Brazilian regions.ResultsThe analyses addressed the carbapenemase activity of OXA-23, CarO expression and alterations in its primary structure. Susceptibility test revealed that the strains presented the COS (Colistin-Only-Sensitive) profile. PCR and sequencing showed the presence of the chromosomally-encoded blaOXA-51 in all isolates. The majority of strains (53%) carried the carbapenemase blaOXA-23 gene associated with ISAba1. The Hodge test indicated that these strains are carbapenemase producers. PFGE revealed 14 genotypes among strains from Rio de Janeiro and Maranhão. The influence of carO on imipenem resistance was evaluated considering two aspects: the composition of the primary amino acid sequence; and the expression level of this porin. Sequencing and in silico analyses showed the occurrence of CarOa, CarOb and undefined CarO types, and Real Time RT-PCR revealed basal and reduced carO transcription levels among isolates.ConclusionsWe concluded that, in general, for these Brazilian isolates, the major carbapenem resistance mechanism was due to OXA-23 carbapenemase activity and that loss of CarO porin plays a minor role in this phenotype. However, it was possible to associate the carO alleles and their expression with imipenem resistance. Therefore, these findings underline the complexity in addressing the role of different mechanisms in carbapenem resistance and highlight the possible influence of CarO type in this phenotype.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Fonseca et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013