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. 2022 Feb 18:13:822243.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.822243. eCollection 2022.

Consistent Biofilm Formation by Streptococcus pyogenes emm 1 Isolated From Patients With Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections

Dag Harald Skutlaberg  1   2 , Harald G Wiker  1   2 , Haima Mylvaganam  2 ; INFECT Study Group; Anna Norrby-Teglund  3 , Steinar Skrede  1   4
Affiliations

Consistent Biofilm Formation by Streptococcus pyogenes emm 1 Isolated From Patients With Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections

Dag Harald Skutlaberg et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Objectives: Biofilm formation has been demonstrated in muscle and soft tissue samples from patients with necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI) caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, but the clinical importance of this observation is not clear. Although M-protein has been shown to be important for in vitro biofilm formation in S. pyogenes, the evidence for an association between emm type and biofilm forming capacity is conflicting. Here we characterize the biofilm forming capacity in a collection of S. pyogenes isolates causing NSTI, and relate this to emm type of the isolates and clinical characteristics of the patients.

Methods: Bacterial isolates and clinical data were obtained from NSTI patients enrolled in a multicenter prospective observational study. Biofilm forming capacity was determined using a microtiter plate assay.

Results: Among 57 cases, the three most frequently encountered emm types were emm1 (n = 22), emm3 (n = 13), and emm28 (n = 7). The distribution of biofilm forming capacity in emm1 was qualitatively (narrow-ranged normal distribution) and quantitatively (21/22 isolates in the intermediate range) different from other emm types (wide ranged, multimodal distribution with 5/35 isolates in the same range as emm1). There were no significant associations between biofilm forming capacity and clinical characteristics of the patients.

Conclusions: The biofilm forming capacity of emm1 isolates was uniform and differed significantly from other emm types. The impact of biofilm formation in NSTI caused by S. pyogenes on clinical outcomes remains uncertain.

Keywords: M-protein; Streptococcus pyogenes; biofilms; emm1; necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based Phylogeny using CSI Phylogeny 1.4, including the three most common emm types in the study and reference strains [NCTC8198 (GenBank accession LN831034.1), NIH34 (GenBank accession AP023387.1) and NIH35 (GenBank accession AP023388.1)]. The color indicates emm- and ST type, including dark blue: emm1 (ST 28); purple: emm3 (ST 15); orange: emm3 (ST 315) and green: emm28 (ST 52).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Frequency distribution of biofilm forming capacity.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
emm type and biofilm forming capacity. Horizontal lines indicate the first (OD600 = 0.19) and third (OD600 = 0.65) quartiles. Isolates with OD600-values below the first quartile, between the first and third quartile and above the third quartile are categorized as poor, intermediate and good biofilm formers, respectively.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Relationship between biofilm in vivo (Siemens et al., 2016) and in vitro biofilm forming capacity of bacterial isolates from the same biopsies (this study).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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