Diversity of resistance phenotypes and plasmid analysis in multi-resistant 0:12 Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance phenotypes, plasmid content and ability of conjugal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes of 35 multi-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were examined. The strains were isolated in 12 Greek hospitals and the majority of them (80%) belonged to serotype 0:12. The isolates were distributed to a variety of different antibiotic resistance phenotypes. Plasmid analysis showed that 10 isolates harboured plasmids ranging in size from 20 to 100 Mda. Among these strains, four carried plasmids of 100 Mda, two strains had 60 Mda plasmid each while in three strains the plasmids detected were 65, 25 and 20 Mda, respectively. One strain harboured two plasmids of 100 and 60 Mda. All strains containing plasmids belonged to 0:12 serotype, except the one harbouring the 25 Mda plasmid, which belonged to serotype 0:6. Using a P. aeruginosa recipient resistant to rifampicin and ciprofloxacin, conjugal transfer was achieved in two occasions. These plasmids, 100 Mda in size, encoded high-level resistance to both gentamicin and tobramycin whereas resistance to other drugs was not transferable. Interestingly, all 100 Mda plasmids, including the self-transferable ones, were found to share a certain degree of homology as judged by restriction analysis. It is suggested that both resistance phenotypes and analysis of plasmid content might be useful in subdividing 0:12 multi-resistant P. aeruginosa.