Open AccessAdherence and motility characteristics of clinical A cinetobacter baumannii isolates
Author(s) -
Eijkelkamp Bart A.,
Stroeher Uwe H.,
Hassan Karl A.,
Papadimitrious Michael S.,
Paulsen Ian T.,
Brown Melissa H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2011.02362.x
Subject(s) - acinetobacter baumannii , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , motility , biofilm , fimbria , gene , bacteria , virulence , genetics , pseudomonas aeruginosa
A cinetobacter baumannii continues to be a major health problem especially in hospital settings. Herein, features that may play a role in persistence and disease potential were investigated in a collection of clinical A . baumannii strains from Australia. Twitching motility was found to be a common trait in A . baumannii international clone I strains and in abundant biofilm formers, whereas swarming motility was only observed in isolates not classified within the international clone lineages. Bioinformatic analysis of the type IV fimbriae revealed a correlation between P il A sequence homology and motility. A high level of variability in adherence to both abiotic surfaces and epithelial cells was found. We report for the first time the motility characteristics of a large number of A . baumannii isolates and present a direct comparison of A . baumannii binding to nasopharyngeal and lung epithelial cells.