The relatedness of <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> strains based on phylogenetic analysis of <i>uge</i> and <i>fim</i> genes

. Currently, there is insufficient data on the prevalence of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains with virulence factors genes uge and fim among women and newborns. This indicates the need for a study of the prevalence of K. pneumoniae ( uge + , fim + ) and the degree of heterogeneity of the bacterial population isolated from children and adults. The aim of the study was to perform a phylogenetic analysis of the uge and fim genes of the K. pneumoniae strains. Materials and methods . Total 65 strains of K. pneumoniae isolated from samples of feces, blood, urine, placenta, cervical canal, pharynx, suture of 39 newborns and 24 women were studied. Two blood cultures were obtained from one patient with an interval of two weeks, and two isolates were obtained from the separated cervical canal and suture of one patient. The presence of genes was detected by PCR, nucleotide sequences of the genes were determined by Sanger sequencing. Results . The frequency of detection of the uge gene was 53.8% (35 of 65), fim gene — 23.1% (15 of 65), which indicates a higher prevalence of uge gene strains compared to fim ( p < 0.001). The phylogenetic analysis of 18 nucleotide sequences of the uge gene and 4 of the fim gene demonstrated that the strains were distributed in 7 and 4 clusters, respectively. It was established that for, there are No clear clustering by time and place of isolation, patient age, and type of biological material was observed for both uge and fim genes. Discussion . The results of phylogenetic analysis demonstrate the genetic heterogeneity of the studied population of K. pneumoniae , which is confirmed by the wide geography and time variations in detection of the most genetically close bacterial isolates.