"Roar" of blaNDM-1 and "silence" of blaOXA-58 co-exist in Acinetobacter pittii

Sci Rep. 2015 Mar 10:5:8976. doi: 10.1038/srep08976.

Abstract

Acinetobacter pittii 44551 was recovered from a patient with gout combined with tuberculosis and was found to harbor the carbapenemase genes blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-58 on two different plasmids pNDM-44551 and pOXA58-44551, respectively. pNDM-44551 displayed high self-transferability across multiple bacterial species, while pOXA58-44551 was likely co-transferable with pNDM-44551 into A. baumannii receipts. pNDM-44551 was a close variant of the previously characterized pNDM-BJ01, and the blaNDM-1 gene cluster was arranged sequentially as orfA, ISAba14, aphA6, ISAba125, blaNDM-1, bleMBL, ΔtrpF, dsbC, tnpR, and zeta. pOXA58-44551 was a repAci9-containing plasmid, and blaOXA-58 was embedded in a 372F-ISAba3-like-blaOXA-58-ISAba3 structure. The mobile genetic platforms of blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-58 herein showed some differences from their previously characterized variants. The production of NDM-1 in strain 44551 contributed the majority to its high resistance to carbapenems, while the blaOXA-58 stayed silent most likely due to the lack of an upstream promoter to drive its transcription. Increased surveillance of Acinetobacter co-harboring blaNDM-1 (active) and blaOXA-58 (either active or silent) is urgently needed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acinetobacter / enzymology*
  • Acinetobacter Infections / genetics*
  • Acinetobacter Infections / microbiology
  • DNA Transposable Elements / genetics
  • Humans
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • beta-Lactamases / chemistry
  • beta-Lactamases / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • beta-Lactamases
  • beta-lactamase NDM-1
  • beta-lactamase OXA-58, Acinetobacter baumannii