Genetic and phenotypic variations of a resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa epidemic clone

Abstract

From May 1997 to December 2001, a serotype O:6 multidrug-resistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonized or infected 201 patients in the University Hospital of Besançon (France). The susceptibility profile of this epidemic clone to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides was relatively stable during the outbreak but showed important isolate-to-isolate variations (up to 64-fold) in the MICs of beta-lactams. Analysis of 18 genotypically related isolates selected on a quarterly basis demonstrated alterations in the two DNA topoisomerases II and IV (Thr83-->Ile in GyrA and Ser87-->Leu in ParC) and production of an ANT(2")-I enzyme. Although constitutively overproduced in these bacteria, the MexXY efflux system did not appear to contribute significantly to aminoglycoside resistance. beta-Lactam resistance was associated with derepression of intrinsic AmpC beta-lactamase (with isolate-to-isolate variations of up to 58-fold) and sporadic deficiency in a 46-kDa protein identified as the carbapenem-selective porin OprD. Of the 18 isolates, 14 were also found to overproduce the efflux system MexAB-OprM as a result of alteration of the repressor protein MexR (His107-->Pro). However, complementation experiments with the cloned mexR gene demonstrated that MexAB-OprM contributed only marginally to beta-lactam and fluoroquinolone resistance. Of the four isolates exhibiting wild-type MexAB-OprM expression despite the MexR alteration, two appeared to harbor secondary mutations in the mexA-mexR intergenic region and one harbored secondary mutations in the putative ribosome binding site located upstream of the mexAB oprM operon. In conclusion, this study shows that many mechanisms were involved in the multiresistance phenotype of this highly epidemic strain of P. aeruginosa. Our results also demonstrate that the clone sporadically underwent substantial genetic and phenotypic variations during the course of the outbreak, perhaps in relation to local or individual selective drug pressures.

FIG. 1.

Distribution of the epidemic clone during the study period according to the type of hospitalization unit. One isolate was counted per infected or colonized patient. Solid bars represent the isolates recovered from the surgical ICU, shaded bars represent those recovered from the medical ICU, and hatched bars represent those recovered from other wards.

FIG. 2.

Variations in the drug susceptibility of the epidemic clone. The histogram represents mean inhibition diameters (in millimeters) determined by the disk diffusion method for 201 isolates (one per patient). Error bars indicate standard deviations. Abbreviations of antibiotics are the same as in Table 2.