Pathogenicity Genomic Island-Associated CrpP-Like Fluoroquinolone-Modifying Enzymes among Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clinical Isolates in Europe

Abstract

Many transferable quinolone resistance mechanisms have been identified in Gram-negative bacteria. The plasmid-encoded 65-amino-acid-long ciprofloxacin-modifying enzyme CrpP was recently identified in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. We analyzed a collection of 100 clonally unrelated and multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa clinical isolates, among which 46 were positive for crpP-like genes, encoding five CrpP variants conferring variable levels of reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones. These crpP-like genes were chromosomally located as part of pathogenicity genomic islands.

Keywords: CrpP; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; ciprofloxacin; fluoroquinolones.

FIG 1

Sequence comparison between pUM505 and PAGIs (60, 196, and 598). Arrows and arrowheads indicate open reading frames and their direction of transcription. Shading between bars indicates portions of sequences that align with each other. The map was drawn using Kablammo software (http://kablammo.wasmuthlab.org/).