Open AccessMolecular Detection of epsA-Mediated and Extracellular Polysaccharide-Mediated Biofilm Formation Among Multidrug Resistant Strains of Acinetobacter baumannii
Author(s) -
K. Sarojini
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
bioscience biotechnology research communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2321-4007
pISSN - 0974-6455
DOI - 10.21786/bbrc/14.4.43
Subject(s) - acinetobacter baumannii , biofilm , microbiology and biotechnology , multiple drug resistance , amplicon , biology , efflux , drug resistance , acinetobacter , gene , antibiotics , polymerase chain reaction , pseudomonas aeruginosa , bacteria , genetics
The epsA associated biofilm formation attributes to potent virulence in the drug resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii. This study is aimed to molecularly characterize the epsA gene among the multidrug resistant clinical isolates of A. baumannii and to assess the frequency of the same in different drug resistant groups. To detect the biofilm formation among the selected MDR strains of A. baumannii, semi-quantitative adherent bioassay was performed using crystal violet staining method. Further PCR amplification was done to screen the presence of epsA gene with further sequencing of the amplicons. Pearson’s correlation analysis was done to check the correlation of the occurrence of epsA gene with drug resistant strains (p-value<0.05). 58.9%, 31.5% and 0.9% of the strains were recorded as high grade, low grade and negative biofilm formers under biofilm assay. The epsA gene was observed in 14 MDR strains (19.17%) of A. baumannii with an amplicon size of 451bp. Co-occurrence of epsA gene was 100% in β-lactam, cephem and folate resistant strains followed by 71.4% among aminoglycosides, 57.1% against carbapenems and 14.2% in fluoroquinolone and efflux pump mediated resistant strains. The findings of the study suggest the co-occurrence of epsA gene mediated biofilm formation among the multidrug resistant strains of A. baumannii. Further studies on the same helps in designing new vaccines and drugs for the prevention and treatment of A. baumannii infections.