Title Comparison of virulence between matt and mucoid colonies of Klebsiella pneumoniae coproducing NDM-1 and OXA-232 isolated from a single patient
Author Haejeong Lee1, Jin Yang Baek2, So Yeon Kim1, HyunJi Jo3, KyeongJin Kang3, Jae-Hoon Ko4, Sun Young Cho4, Doo Ryeon Chung2,4, Kyong Ran Peck4, Jae-Hoon Song2,4, and Kwan Soo Ko1,2*
Address 1Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea, 2Asia Pacific Foundation for Infectious Diseases (APFID), Seoul 06367, Republic of Korea, 3Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea, 4Division of Infectious Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 06351, Republic of Korea
Bibliography Journal of Microbiology, 56(9),665–672, 2018,
DOI 10.1007/s12275-018-8130-3
Key Words carbapenemase, Drosophila melanogaster, capsular polysaccharide, biofilm formation, serum resistance, fly infection
Abstract Nine Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates coproducing NDM-1 and OXA-232 carbapenemases were successively isolated from a single patient. Although they were isolated simultaneously and were isogenic, they presented different colony phenotypes (matt and mucoid). All nine isolates were resistant to most antibiotics except colistin and fosfomycin. In addition, matt-type isolates were resistant to tigecycline. No differences were detected in the cps cluster sequences, except for the insertion of IS5 in the wzb gene of two matt-type isolates. In vitro virulence assays based on production of capsular polysaccharide, biofilm formation, and resistance to human serum indicated that the mucoid-type isolates were significantly more virulent than the matt-type. In addition, mucoid-type isolates showed higher survival rates than the matt-type ones in infection experiments in the fruit fly, suggesting a higher virulence of K. pneumoniae isolates with a mucoid phenotype. To our knowledge, this is the first report of K. pneumoniae colonies with different phenotypes being isolated from the same sample. In addition, we show that virulence varies with colony phenotype. Dissemination of K. pneumoniae isolates expressing both antibiotic resistance and high virulence would constitute a great threat.