AUTHOR=Tian Chongmei , Song Jianqin , Ren Lingzhi , Huang Delian , Wang Siwei , Fu Liping , Zhao Yaping , Bai Yongfeng , Fan Xueyu , Ma Tianhong , Ying Junjie 

TITLE=Complete genetic characterization of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter johnsonii, co-producing NDM-1, OXA-58, and PER-1 in a patient source

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1227063

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2023.1227063

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=Emergence of carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter spp. has been widely reported and become a global threat. However, carbapenem resistant A. johnsonii strains are rare relatively and without comprehensive genetic structure analysis, especially for isolates collected from human specimen. Here, one A. johnsonii AYTCM strain, co-producing NDM-1, OXA-58 and PER-1 enzymes, was isolated from sputum in China in 2018. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed it was resistant to meropenem, imipenem, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin and cefoperazone/sulbactam. Whole genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis revealed it possessed 11 plasmids. blaOXA-58 and blaPER-1 genes were located in pAYTCM-1 plasmid. Specially, a complex class 1 integron complex was consisted of a 5’ conserved segment (5’ CS) and 3’ CS, which was found to carry sul1, arr-3, qnrVC6 and blaPER-1 cassettes. Moreover, blaNDM-1 gene was located in 41,087 conjugative plasmids and were quite stable even after 70 passages under antibiotics-free condition. In addition, six prophage regions were identified. Track of closely-related plasmids in the public database showed pAYTCM-1 was similar to pXBB1-9, pOXA23_010062, pOXA58_010030 and pAcsw19-2 plasmids, which were collected from the strains of sewage in China. Concerning the pAYTCM-3 plasmids, results showed strains were collected from different sources and their hosts were isolated from various countries, such as China, USA, Japan, Brazil and Mexico, suggesting a wide spread occurred all over the world. In conclusion, early surveillance is warranted to avoid the extensive spread of this high-risk clone in the healthcare setting.