Mechanisms of Increased Resistance to Chlorhexidine and Cross-Resistance to Colistin following Exposure of Klebsiella pneumoniae Clinical Isolates to Chlorhexidine.

ABSTRACT: Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that is often difficult to treat due to its multidrug resistance (MDR). We have previously shown that K. pneumoniae strains are able to "adapt" (become more resistant) to the widely used bisbiguanide antiseptic chlorhexidine. Here, we investigated the mechanisms responsible for and the phenotypic consequences of chlorhexidine adaptation, with particular reference to antibiotic cross-resistance. In five of six strains, adaptation to chlorhexidine also led to resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin. Here, we show that chlorhexidine adaptation is associated with mutations in the two-component regulator phoPQ and a putative Tet repressor gene (smvR) adjacent to the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) efflux pump gene, smvA Upregulati

SUBMITTER: Wand ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5192135 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature