The resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains to carbapenems is a worrying problem in hospital settings. The main mechanism of carbapenem resistance is the expression of β-lactamases (metalloenzymes or class D enzymes). The mechanisms of the dissemination of these genes among A. baumannii strains are not fully understood. In this study we used two carbapenem-resistant clinical strains of A. baumannii (AbH12O-A2 and AbH12O-CU3) expressing the plasmid-borne bla _OXA-24 gene (plasmids pMMA2 and pMMCU3, respectively) to demonstrate that A. baumannii releases outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) during in vitro growth. The use of hybridization studies enabled us to show that these OMVs harbored the bla _OXA-24 gene. The incubation of these OMVs with the carbapenem-susceptible A. baumannii ATCC 17978 host strain yielded full resistance to carbapenems. The presence of the original plasmids harboring the bla _OXA-24 gene was detected in strain ATCC 17978 after the transformation of OMVs. New OMVs harboring bla _OXA-24 were released by A. baumannii ATCC 17978 after it was transformed with the original OMV-mediated plasmids, indicating the universality of the process. We present the first experimental evidence that clinical isolates of A. baumannii may release OMVs as a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer whereby carbapenem resistance genes are delivered to surrounding A. baumannii bacterial isolates.

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a dangerous opportunistic pathogen, with many strains able to form biofilms and thus cause persistent infections. The aim of the present study was to use high-throughput sequencing techniques to establish complete transcriptome profiles of planktonic (free-living) and sessile (biofilm) forms of A. baumannii ATCC 17978 and thereby identify differences in their gene expression patterns. Collections of mRNA from planktonic (both exponential and stationary phase cultures) and sessile (biofilm) cells were sequenced. Six mRNA libraries were prepared following the mRNA-Seq protocols from Illumina. Reads were obtained in a HiScanSQ platform and mapped against the complete genome to describe the complete mRNA transcriptomes of planktonic and sessile cells. The results showed that the gene expression pattern of A. baumannii biofilm cells was distinct from that of planktonic cells, including 1621 genes over-expressed in biofilms relative to stationary phase cells and 55 genes expressed only in biofilms. These differences suggested important changes in amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, motility, active transport, DNA-methylation, iron acquisition, transcriptional regulation, and quorum sensing, among other processes. Disruption or deletion of five of these genes caused a significant decrease in biofilm formation ability in the corresponding mutant strains. Among the genes over-expressed in biofilm cells were those in an operon involved in quorum sensing. One of them, encoding an acyl carrier protein, was shown to be involved in biofilm formation as demonstrated by the significant decrease in biofilm formation by the corresponding knockout strain. The present work serves as a basis for future studies examining the complex network systems that regulate bacterial biofilm formation and maintenance.

Multidrug efflux pumps have emerged as important mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens. In order to cause infection, pathogenic bacteria require mechanisms to avoid the effects of host-produced compounds, and express efflux pumps may accomplish this task. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the inactivation of AcrAB-TolC on antimicrobial resistance, fitness, and virulence in Enterobacter cloacae , an opportunistic pathogen usually involved in nosocomial infections. Two different clinical isolates of E. cloacae were used, EcDC64 (multidrug resistance overexpressing the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump) and Jc194 (basal AcrAB-TolC expression). The acrA and tolC genes were deleted in strains EcDC64 and Jc194 to produce, respectively, EcΔ acrA and EcΔ tolC and JcΔ acrA and JcΔ tolC knockout (KO) derivatives. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed with all isolates, and we discovered that these mechanisms are involved in the resistance of E. cloacae to several antibiotics. Competition experiments were also performed with wild-type and isogenic KO strains. The competition index (CI), defined as the mutant/wild-type ratio, revealed that the acrA and tolC genes both affect the fitness of E. cloacae , as fitness was clearly reduced in the acrA and tolC KO strains. The median CI values obtained in vitro and in vivo were, respectively, 0.42 and 0.3 for EcDC64/EcΔ acrA , 0.24 and 0.38 for EcDC64/EcΔ tol C, 0.15 and 0.11 for Jc194/JcΔ acrA , and 0.38 and 0.39 for Jc194/JcΔ tolC . Use of an intraperitoneal mouse model of systemic infection revealed reduced virulence in both E. cloacae clinical strains when either the acrA or tolC gene was inactivated. In conclusion, the structural components of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump appear to play a role in antibiotic resistance as well as environmental adaptation and host virulence in clinical isolates of E. cloacae .

A clinical strain of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus resistant to carbapenems was isolated from a blood culture sample from an inpatient in a hospital in Madrid (Spain) during a large outbreak of infection (affecting more than 300 inpatients), caused by a multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii clone. The carbapenem resistance in both the A. calcoaceticus and A. baumannii clones was due to a bla _OXA-24 gene harbored in different plasmids. The plasmids were fully sequenced, revealing the presence of site-specific recombination binding sites putatively involved in mobilization of the bla _OXA-24 gene. Comparison of plasmids contained in the two strains revealed possible horizontal transmission of resistance genes between the Acinetobacter species.

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is a multidrug-resistant bacterium responsible for nosocomial infections in hospitals worldwide. Study of mutant phenotypes is fundamental for understanding gene function. The methodologies developed to inactivate A. baumannii genes are complicated and time-consuming; sometimes result in unstable mutants, and do not enable construction of double (or more) gene knockout mutant strains of A. baumannii. Results: We describe here a rapid and simple method of obtaining A. baumannii mutants by gene replacement via double crossover recombination, by use of a PCR product that carries an antibiotic resistance cassette flanked by regions homologous to the target locus. To demonstrate the reproducibility of the approach, we produced mutants of three different chromosomal genes (omp33, oxyR, and soxR) by this method. In addition, we disrupted one of these genes (omp33) by integration of a plasmid into the chromosome by single crossover recombination, the most widely used method of obtaining A. baumannii mutants. Comparison of the different techniques revealed absolute stability when the gene was replaced by a double recombination event, whereas up to 40% of the population reverted to wild-type when the plasmid was disrupting the target gene after 10 passages in broth without selective pressure. Moreover, we demonstrate that the combination of both gene disruption and gene replacement techniques is an easy and useful procedure for obtaining double gene knockout mutants in A. baumannii. Conclusions: This study provides a rapid and simple method of obtaining stable mutants of A. baumannii free of foreign plasmidic DNA, which does not require cloning steps, and enables construction of multiple gene knockout mutants.