scholarly journals KpnEF, a New Member of the Klebsiella pneumoniae Cell Envelope Stress Response Regulon, Is an SMR-Type Efflux Pump Involved in Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Resistance

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 4449-4462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijaya Bharathi Srinivasan ◽  
Govindan Rajamohan

ABSTRACTKlebsiella pneumoniaehas been frequently associated with nosocomial infections. Efflux systems are ubiquitous transporters that also function in drug resistance. Genome analysis ofK. pneumoniaestrain NTUH-K2044 revealed the presence of ∼15 putative drug efflux systems. We discuss here for the first time the characterization of a putative SMR-type efflux pump, anebrABhomolog (denoted here askpnEF) with respect toKlebsiellaphysiology and the multidrug-resistant phenotype. Analysis of hypermucoviscosity revealed direct involvement ofkpnEFin capsule synthesis. The ΔkpnEFmutant displayed higher sensitivity to hyperosmotic (∼2.8-fold) and high bile (∼4.0-fold) concentrations. Mutation inkpnEFresulted in increased susceptibility to cefepime, ceftriaxone, colistin, erythromycin, rifampin, tetracycline, and streptomycin; mutated strains changed from being resistant to being susceptible, and the resistance was restored upon complementation. The ΔkpnEFmutant displayed enhanced sensitivity toward structurally related compounds such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, deoxycholate, and dyes, including clinically relevant disinfectants such as benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine, and triclosan. The prevalence ofkpnEFin clinical strains broadens the diversity of antibiotic resistance inK. pneumoniae. Experimental evidence of CpxR binding to the efflux pump promoter and quantification of its expression in acpxARmutant background demonstratedkpnEFto be a member of the Cpx regulon. This study helps to elucidate the unprecedented biological functions of the SMR-type efflux pump inKlebsiellaspp.

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1603-1609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyamasree De Majumdar ◽  
Mark Veleba ◽  
Sarah Finn ◽  
Séamus Fanning ◽  
Thamarai Schneiders

ABSTRACTRarA is an AraC-type regulator inKlebsiella pneumoniae, which, when overexpressed, confers a low-level multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotype linked to the upregulation of both theacrABandoqxABefflux genes. IncreasedrarAexpression has also been shown to be integral in the development of tigecycline resistance in the absence oframAinK. pneumoniae. Given its phenotypic role in MDR, microarray analyses were performed to determine the RarA regulon. Transcriptome analysis was undertaken using strains Ecl8ΔrarA/pACrarA-2 (rarA-expressing construct) and Ecl8ΔrarA/pACYC184 (vector-only control) using bespoke microarray slides consisting of probes derived from the genomic sequences ofK. pneumoniaeMGH 78578 (NC_009648.1) and Kp342 (NC_011283.1). Our results show thatrarAoverexpression resulted in the differential expression of 66 genes (42 upregulated and 24 downregulated). Under the COG (clusters of orthologous groups) functional classification, the majority of affected genes belonged to the category of cell envelope biogenesis and posttranslational modification, along with genes encoding the previously uncharacterized transport proteins (e.g., KPN_03141,sdaCB, andleuE) and the porin OmpF. However, genes associated with energy production and conversion and amino acid transport/metabolism (e.g.,nuoA,narJ, andproWX) were found to be downregulated. Biolog phenotype analyses demonstrated thatrarAoverexpression confers enhanced growth of the overexpresser in the presence of several antibiotic classes (i.e., beta-lactams and fluoroquinolones), the antifungal/antiprotozoal compound clioquinol, disinfectants (8-hydroxyquinoline), protein synthesis inhibitors (i.e., minocycline and puromycin), membrane biogenesis agents (polymyxin B and amitriptyline), DNA synthesis (furaltadone), and the cytokinesis inhibitor (sanguinarine). Both our transcriptome and phenotypic microarray data support and extend the role of RarA in the MDR phenotype ofK. pneumoniae.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 6151-6156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey E. Nielsen ◽  
Erik C. Snesrud ◽  
Fatma Onmus-Leone ◽  
Yoon I. Kwak ◽  
Ricardo Avilés ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTigecycline nonsusceptibility is concerning because tigecycline is increasingly relied upon to treat carbapenem- or colistin-resistant organisms. InEnterobacteriaceae, tigecycline nonsusceptibility is mediated by the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump, among others, and pump activity is often a downstream effect of mutations in their transcriptional regulators, cognate repressor genes, or noncoding regions, as demonstrated inEnterobacteriaceaeandAcinetobacterisolates. Here, we report the emergence of tigecycline nonsusceptibility in a longitudinal series of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)Klebsiella pneumoniaeisolates collected during tigecycline therapy and the elucidation of its resistance mechanisms. Clinical isolates were recovered prior to and during tigecycline therapy of a 2.5-month-old Honduran neonate. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests to tigecycline determined that the MIC increased from 1 to 4 μg/ml prior to the completion of tigecycline therapy. Unlike other studies, we did not find increased expression oframA,ramR,oqxA,acrB,marA, orrarAgenes by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). Whole-genome sequencing revealed an IS5insertion element in nonsusceptible isolates 85 bp upstream of a putative efflux pump operon, here namedkpgABC, previously unknown to be involved in resistance. Introduction of thekpgABCgenes in a non-kpgABCbackground increased the MIC of tigecycline 4-fold and is independent of a functional AcrAB-TolC pump. This is the first report to propose a function forkpgABCand identify an insertion element whose presence correlated with thein vivodevelopment of tigecycline nonsusceptibility inK. pneumoniae.


Author(s):  
Bingjie Wang ◽  
Fen Pan ◽  
Dingding Han ◽  
Wantong Zhao ◽  
Yingying Shi ◽  
...  

As an important member of the Klebsiella pneumoniae complex, Klebsiella variicola is poorly studied as an emerging human pathogen. We, for the first time, report a unique K. variicola isolated from a pediatric patient in China.


2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 4450-4458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Veleba ◽  
Paul G. Higgins ◽  
Gerardo Gonzalez ◽  
Harald Seifert ◽  
Thamarai Schneiders

ABSTRACTTranscriptional regulators, such as SoxS, RamA, MarA, and Rob, which upregulate the AcrAB efflux pump, have been shown to be associated with multidrug resistance in clinically relevant Gram-negative bacteria. In addition to the multidrug resistance phenotype, these regulators have also been shown to play a role in the cellular metabolism and possibly the virulence potential of microbial cells. As such, the increased expression of these proteins is likely to cause pleiotropic phenotypes.Klebsiella pneumoniaeis a major nosocomial pathogen which can express the SoxS, MarA, Rob, and RamA proteins, and the accompanying paper shows that the increased transcription oframAis associated with tigecycline resistance (M. Veleba and T. Schneiders, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 56:4466–4467, 2012). Bioinformatic analyses of the availableKlebsiellagenome sequences show that an additional AraC-type regulator is encoded chromosomally. In this work, we characterize this novel AraC-type regulator, hereby called RarA (Regulator of antibiotic resistance A), which is encoded inK. pneumoniae,Enterobactersp. 638,Serratia proteamaculans568, andEnterobacter cloacae. We show that the overexpression ofrarAresults in a multidrug resistance phenotype which requires a functional AcrAB efflux pump but is independent of the other AraC regulators. Quantitative real-time PCR experiments show thatrarA(MGH 78578 KPN_02968) and its neighboring efflux pump operonoqxAB(KPN_02969_02970) are consistently upregulated in clinical isolates collected from various geographical locations (Chile, Turkey, and Germany). Our results suggest thatrarAoverexpression upregulates theoqxABefflux pump. Additionally, it appears thatoqxR, encoding a GntR-type regulator adjacent to theoqxABoperon, is able to downregulate the expression of theoqxABefflux pump, where OqxR complementation resulted in reductions to olaquindox MICs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Balaram Khamari ◽  
Prakash Kumar ◽  
Bulagonda Eswarappa Pradeep

Introduction. Nitrofurantoin is one of the preferred antibiotics in the treatment of uropathogenic multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections. However, resistance to nitrofurantoin in extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria has severely limited the treatment options. Gap statement. Information related to co-resistance or collateral sensitivity (CS) with reference to nitrofurantoin resistant bacteria is limited. Aim. To study the potential of nitrofurantoin resistance as an indicator of the XDR phenotype in Enterobacteriaceae . Methods. One hundred (45 nitrofurantoin-resistant, 21 intermediately resistant and 34 nitrofurantoin-susceptible) Enterobacteriaceae were analysed in this study. Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) against nitrofurantoin and 17 other antimicrobial agents across eight different classes was performed by using the Vitek 2.0 system. The isolates were screened for the prevalence of acquired antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and efflux pump genes by PCR. Results. In total, 51 % of nitrofurantoin-resistant and 28 % of intermediately nitrofurantoin resistant isolates exhibited XDR characteristics, while only 3 % of nitrofurantoin-sensitive isolates were XDR (P=0.0001). Significant co-resistance was observed between nitrofurantoin and other tested antibiotics (β-lactam, cephalosporin, carbapenem, aminoglycoside and tetracycline). Further, the prevalence of AMR and efflux pump genes was higher in the nitrofurantoin-resistant strains compared to the susceptible isolates. A strong association was observed between nitrofurantoin resistance and the presence of bla PER-1, bla NDM-1, bla OXA-48, ant(2) and oqxA-oqxB genes. Tigecycline (84 %) and colistin (95 %) were the only antibiotics to which the majority of the isolates were susceptible. Conclusion. Nitrofurantoin resistance could be an indicator of the XDR phenotype among Enterobacteriaceae , harbouring multiple AMR and efflux pump genes. Tigecycline and colistin are the only antibiotics that could be used in the treatment of such XDR infections. A deeper understanding of the co-resistance mechanisms in XDR pathogens and prescription of AST-based appropriate combination therapy may help mitigate this problem.


Author(s):  
Zumaana Rafiq ◽  
Sreevidya Narasimhan ◽  
Magesh Haridoss ◽  
Rosy Vennila ◽  
Rama Vaidyanathan

ABSTRACTObjective: With a rise in multidrug resistant (MDR) bacterial isolates, search for antibiotics or compounds that could act synergistically with themis a significant area of research. Efflux-mediated resistance, in particular, is a great hurdle that needs to be overcome. In an effort to identify suchsynergistic compounds and potential efflux pump inhibitors (EPI), we analyzed the rind of Punica granatum (pomegranate) against MDR clinicalKlebsiella pneumoniae isolates.Methods: Sequential fractionation of P. granatum rind ethanol (PGR) extract was carried out to obtain hexane, butanol and water fractions.Antibacterial activity of the plant extracts was confirmed, and synergistic interaction with antibiotics was determined by the checkerboard assay. Gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was performed to identify the phytochemical constituents of the hexane extract. To study EPIactivity of the extracts, norfloxacin accumulation assay was carried out.Results: PGR ethanol extract was found to have synergistic activity with ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, meropenem, and gentamicinresulting in fold decrease of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 2 to 32 fold. The hexane fraction was found to have maximumsynergistic activity resulting in a 32-fold reduction of ciprofloxacin MIC followed by butanol and water fractions. The PGR ethanol extract was alsofound to have efflux inhibition activity by the norfloxacin accumulation assay. Of the sequential fractions, the butanol fraction had maximum effluxinhibition activity.Conclusion: Therefore, our study shows that PGR extract can potentiate the effect of antibiotics on MDR bacteria, and the mode of action is likely tobe due to EPI.Keywords: Punica granatum rind, Pomegranate, Synergy with antibiotics, Multidrug resistant, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Efflux pump inhibition.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattia Palmieri ◽  
Kelly L. Wyres ◽  
Caroline Mirande ◽  
Zhao Qiang ◽  
Ye Liyan ◽  
...  

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a frequent cause of nosocomial and severe community-acquired infections. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and hypervirulent (hv) strains represent major threats, and tracking their emergence, evolution and the emerging convergence of MDR and hv traits is of major importance. We employed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to study the evolution and epidemiology of a large longitudinal collection of clinical K. pneumoniae isolates from the H301 hospital in Beijing, China. Overall, the population was highly diverse, although some clones were predominant. Strains belonging to clonal group (CG) 258 were dominant, and represented the majority of carbapenemase-producers. While CG258 strains showed high diversity, one clone, ST11-KL47, represented the majority of isolates, and was highly associated with the KPC-2 carbapenemase and several virulence factors, including a virulence plasmid. The second dominant clone was CG23, which is the major hv clone globally. While it is usually susceptible to multiple antibiotics, we found some isolates harbouring MDR plasmids encoding for ESBLs and carbapenemases. We also reported the local emergence of a recently described high-risk clone, ST383. Conversely to strains belonging to CG258, which are usually associated to KPC-2, ST383 strains seem to readily acquire carbapenemases of different types. Moreover, we found several ST383 strains carrying the hypervirulence plasmid. Overall, we detected about 5 % of simultaneous carriage of AMR genes (ESBLs or carbapenemases) and hypervirulence genes. Tracking the emergence and evolution of such strains, causing severe infections with limited treatment options, is fundamental in order to understand their origin and evolution and to limit their spread. This article contains data hosted by Microreact.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golnaz Mobasseri ◽  
Thong Kwai Lin ◽  
Cindy Shuan Ju Teh

Abstract Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) poses a serious public health threat. K. pneumoniae strains that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) are becoming increasingly reported in nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Besides resistance genes, integrons, and plasmids, altered membrane permeability caused by porin loss and energy-dependent efflux have also contributed to antibiotic resistance in K. pneumoniae. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between the reduction of antibiotic susceptibility and overexpression of efflux pump as well as the lack of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) among clinical ESBLs resistant K. pneumoniae. The expression levels of ramA, acrA, ompK35 and ompK36 in 12 MDR K. pneumoniae strains with varying MICs levels were analyzed using quantitative real time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The role of efflux pump on antibiotic resistance was also studied by using minimum inhibitory concentration (MICs) method with//without efflux pump inhibitor. The result indicated that the strains with highest resistance to cefotaxime showed the lowest level of ompK35 and ompK36 genes expression while the strains with lowest MIC level of resistance to cefotaxime showed the highest level of expression of acrA and ramA. Our finding also revealed the effect of efflux pump inhibitor phenyl-arginine-b-naphthylamide (PAβN) on the MIC levels of ceftazidime, amoxicillin-clavulanate and cefotaxime which were significantly reduced around 1–7 folds MIC levels. These results suggest that Efflux pump system and deficiently of OMPs contributing role in antibiotic susceptibility which should be taken seriously to prevent the treatment failure due to antimicrobial resistance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katlego Kopotsa ◽  
Nontombi M. Mbelle ◽  
John Osei Sekyere

Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) remains a major clinical pathogen and public health threat with few therapeutic options. The mobilome, resistome, methylome, virulome and phylogeography of CRKP in South Africa and globally were characterized. CRKP collected in 2018 were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing, screening by multiplex PCR, genotyping by repetitive element palindromic (REP)-PCR, plasmid size, number, incompatibility and mobility analyses, and PacBio’s SMRT sequencing (n=6). There were 56 multidrug-resistant CRKP, having bla OXA-48-like and bla NDM-1/7 carbapenemases on self-transmissible IncF, A/C, IncL/M and IncX3 plasmids endowed with prophages, traT, resistance islands, and type I and II restriction modification systems (RMS). Plasmids and clades detected in this study were respectively related to globally established/disseminated plasmids clades/clones, evincing transboundary horizontal and vertical dissemination. Reduced susceptibility to colistin occurred in 23 strains. Common clones included ST307, ST607, ST17, ST39 and ST3559. IncFIIk virulent plasmid replicon was present in 56 strains. Whole-genome sequencing of six strains revealed least 41 virulence genes, extensive ompK36 mutations, and four different K- and O-loci types: KL2, KL25, KL27, KL102, O1, O2, O4 and O5. Types I, II and III RMS, conferring m6A (G A TC, G A TGNNNNNNTTG, CA A NNNNNNCATC motifs) and m4C (C C WGG) modifications on chromosomes and plasmids, were found. The nature of plasmid-mediated, clonal and multi-clonal dissemination of blaOXA-48-like and blaNDM-1 mirrors epidemiological trends observed for closely related plasmids and sequence types internationally. Worryingly, the presence of both bla OXA-48 and bla NDM-1 in the same isolates was observed. Plasmid-mediated transmission of RMS, virulome and prophages influence bacterial evolution, epidemiology, pathogenicity and resistance, threatening infection treatment. The influence of RMS on antimicrobial and bacteriophage therapy needs urgent investigation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (39) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Martinez ◽  
Eric Williams ◽  
Heather Newkirk ◽  
Mei Liu ◽  
Jason J. Gill ◽  
...  

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a multidrug-resistant bacterium causing many severe hospital-acquired infections. Here, we describe siphophage Sweeny that infects K. pneumoniae. Of its 78 predicted protein-encoding genes, a functional assignment was given to 36 of them. Sweeny is most closely related to T1-like phages at the protein level.


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