Comparative transcriptomics of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in response to antibiotic treatments

Abstract Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, a major hospital-acquired pathogen, is a serious health threat and poses a great challenge to healthcare providers. Although there have been many genomic studies on the evolution and antibiotic resistance of this species, there have been very lim...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hao Qin, Norman Wai-Sing Lo, Jacky Fong-Chuen Loo, Xiao Lin, Aldrin Kay-Yuen Yim, Stephen Kwok-Wing Tsui, Terrence Chi-Kong Lau, Margaret Ip, Ting-Fung Chan
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2018
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/89b7fe721fba4c888b171d415da5391f
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, a major hospital-acquired pathogen, is a serious health threat and poses a great challenge to healthcare providers. Although there have been many genomic studies on the evolution and antibiotic resistance of this species, there have been very limited transcriptome studies on its responses to antibiotics. We conducted a comparative transcriptomic study on 12 strains with different growth rates and antibiotic resistance profiles, including 3 fast-growing pan-drug-resistant strains, under separate treatment with 3 antibiotics, namely amikacin, imipenem, and meropenem. We performed deep sequencing using a strand-specific RNA-sequencing protocol, and used de novo transcriptome assembly to analyze gene expression in the form of polycistronic transcripts. Our results indicated that genes associated with transposable elements generally showed higher levels of expression under antibiotic-treated conditions, and many of these transposon-associated genes have previously been linked to drug resistance. Using co-expressed transposon genes as markers, we further identified and experimentally validated two novel genes of which overexpression conferred significant increases in amikacin resistance. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first comparative transcriptomic analysis of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii under different antibiotic treatments, and revealed a new relationship between transposons and antibiotic resistance.