Open AccessMulticopy bla OXA-58 Gene as a Source of High-Level Resistance to Carbapenems in Acinetobacter baumannii
Author(s) -
Alessia Bertini,
Laurent Poirel,
Sandrine Bernabeu,
Daniela Fortini,
Laura Villa,
Patrice Nordmann,
Alessandra Carattoli
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.07
H-Index - 259
eISSN - 1070-6283
pISSN - 0066-4804
DOI - 10.1128/aac.01502-06
Subject(s) - acinetobacter baumannii , plasmid , gene , biology , carbapenem , microbiology and biotechnology , transposition (logic) , acinetobacter , genetics , neisseriaceae , antibiotics , bacteria , pseudomonas aeruginosa , linguistics , philosophy
The mechanisms at the origin of heterogeneous carbapenem resistance levels observed amongAcinetobacter baumannii isolates collected in 2005 in a large University Hospital of Rome, Italy, were investigated. These isolates were related and possessed similar plasmids carrying the carbapenem-hydrolyzing oxacillinase genebla OXA-58 but showed variable levels of resistance to carbapenems. Analysis of sequences surrounding thebla OXA-58 gene showed genetic variability, with the presence in several isolates of multiple copies of thebla OXA-58 gene; this extra copy number was likely related to an IS26 -mediated transposition or recombination process.