Project description:Objectives: Colistin remains a last-line treatment for multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and combined use of colistin and carbapenems has shown synergistic effects against multidrug-resistant strains. In order to understand the bacterial responses to these antibiotics we analysed the transcriptome of A. baumannii following exposure to each.
Project description:Colistin is a crucial last-line drug used for the treatment of life-threatening infections caused by multi-drug resistant strains of the Gram-negative bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii. However, colistin resistant A. baumannii isolates can be isolated following failed colistin therapy. Resistance is most often mediated by the addition of phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) to lipid A by PmrC, following missense mutations in the pmrCAB operon encoding PmrC and the two-component signal transduction system PmrA/PmrB. We recovered an isogenic pair of A. baumannii isolates from a single patient before (6009-1) and after (6009-2) failed colistin treatment that displayed low/intermediate and high levels of colistin resistance, respectively. To understand how increased colistin-resistance arose, we genome sequenced each isolate which revealed that 6009-2 had an extra copy of the insertion sequence element ISAba125 within a gene encoding an H-NS-family transcriptional regulator. Consequently, transcriptomic analysis of the clinical isolates identified was performed and more than 150 genes as differentially expressed in the colistin-resistant, hns mutant, 6009-2. Importantly, the expression of eptA, encoding a second lipid A-specific pEtN transferase, but not pmrC, was significantly increased in the hns mutant. This is the first time an H-NS-family transcriptional regulator has been associated with a pEtN transferase and colistin resistance.
Project description:Here we investigated colistin effects on A. baumannii, employing a Mass spectrometry approach and comparing a colistin-susceptible multidrug-resistantclinical isolate to its colistin-dependent subpopulation obtained by subsequent passages in moderate colistin concentrations. Colistin dependence might represent a stepping-stone to resistance, but the mechanisms of colistin dependence are far from clear.
Project description:Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) is a Priority 1 (Critical) pathogen urgently requiring new antibiotics. Polymyxins are a last-line option against CRAB-associated infections. This transcriptomic study utilized a CRAB strain to investigate mechanisms of bacterial killing with polymyxin B, colistin, colistin B and colistin/sulbactam combination therapy. After 4 h of 2 mg/L polymyxin monotherapy, all polymyxins exhibited common modes of action which primarily involved disruption to amino acid and fatty acid metabolism. Of the three monotherapies, polymyxin B induced the greatest number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including for genes involved with fatty acid metabolism. Gene disturbances with colistin and colistin B were highly similar (89% common genes for colistin B), though effects on gene expression were generally lower (0-1.5-fold in most cases) with colistin B. Colistin alone (2 mg/L) or combined with sulbactam (64 mg/L) resulted in rapid membrane disruption as early as 1 h. Transcriptomic analysis of this combination revealed the effects were driven by colistin and included disturbances in fatty acid synthesis and catabolism and inhibition of nutrient uptake. Combination therapy produced substantially higher fold changes in 72% of DEGs shared with monotherapy, resulting in substantially greater reductions in fatty acid biosynthesis and increases in biofilm, cell wall and phospholipid synthesis. This indicates synergistic bacterial killing with the colistin/sulbactam combination results from a systematic increase in perturbation of many genes associated with bacterial metabolism. These mechanistic insights enhance our understanding of bacterial responses to polymyxin mono- and combination therapy and will assist to optimize polymyxin use in patients. Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) is a Priority 1 (Critical) pathogen urgently requiring new antibiotics. Polymyxins are a last-line option against CRAB-associated infections. This transcriptomic study utilized a CRAB strain to investigate mechanisms of bacterial killing with polymyxin B, colistin, colistin B and colistin/sulbactam combination therapy. After 4 h of 2 mg/L polymyxin monotherapy, all polymyxins exhibited common modes of action which primarily involved disruption to amino acid and fatty acid metabolism. Of the three monotherapies, polymyxin B induced the greatest number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including for genes involved with fatty acid metabolism. Gene disturbances with colistin and colistin B were highly similar (89% common genes for colistin B), though effects on gene expression were generally lower (0-1.5-fold in most cases) with colistin B. Colistin alone (2 mg/L) or combined with sulbactam (64 mg/L) resulted in rapid membrane disruption as early as 1 h. Transcriptomic analysis of this combination revealed the effects were driven by colistin and included disturbances in fatty acid synthesis and catabolism and inhibition of nutrient uptake. Combination therapy produced substantially higher fold changes in 72% of DEGs shared with monotherapy, resulting in substantially greater reductions in fatty acid biosynthesis and increases in biofilm, cell wall and phospholipid synthesis. This indicates synergistic bacterial killing with the colistin/sulbactam combination results from a systematic increase in perturbation of many genes associated with bacterial metabolism. These mechanistic insights enhance our understanding of bacterial responses to polymyxin mono- and combination therapy and will assist to optimize polymyxin use in patients.
Project description:We analyzed the extracellular proteome of colistin-resistant Korean Acinetobacter baumannii (KAB) strains to identify proteome profiles that can be used to characterize extensively drug-resistant KAB strains.
Project description:To explore how multiple drug-resistant A. baumannii response to colistin resistance, we compared the genomic, transcriptional and proteomic profile of A. baumannii MDR-ZJ06 to that of induced colistin resistant strain ZJ06-200P5-1.
Project description:We report the transcriptional expression from wild type, a ponA mutant, and lipooligosaccharide-deficient A. baumannii in order to understand the cellular changes after inactivation of lipid A biosynthesis. Among all strains, genes in the Localization Of Lipoprotein (Lol) transport pathway were upregulated. This study provides a framework to understand how some Acinetobacter baumannii strains can survive without lipid A and lipopolysaccharide/lipooligosaccharide.
Project description:We recently demonstrated that colistin resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii can result from mutational inactivation of genes essential for lipid A biosynthesis. Consequently, strains harboring these mutations are unable to produce the major Gram negative bacterial surface component, lipopolysaccharide (LPS). To understand how A. baumannii compensates for the lack of LPS, we compared the transcriptional profile of the A. baumannii type strain ATCC19606, to that of an isogenic, LPS-deficient, lpxA mutant strain. Analysis of the expression profiles indicated that the LPS-deficient strain showed increased expression of many genes involved in cell envelope and membrane biogenesis. In particular, up-regulated genes included those involved in the Lol lipoprotein transport system and the Mla-retrograde phospholipid transport system. In addition, genes involved in the synthesis and transport of poly-beta-1,6-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG) were also up-regulated and a corresponding increase in PNAG production was observed. The LPS-deficient strain also exhibited reduced expression of genes predicted to encode the fimbrial subunit FimA and a type VI secretion system (T6SS). The reduced expression of genes involved in T6SS correlated with the detection of the T6SS-effector protein, AssC, in culture supernatants of the A. baumannii wild-type strain, but not in the LPS-deficient strain. Taken together, these data show that, in response to total LPS loss, A. baumannii alters the expression of critical transport and biosynthesis systems associated with modulating the composition and structure of the bacterial surface. Comparison of a gene expression in biological duplicate samples derived from parent bacterial strain to an isogenic mutant strain.