TY - JOUR
T1 - Genomic analysis of carbapenem-resistant Comamonas in water matrices: Implications for public health and wastewater treatments
AU - Hem, Sopheak
AU - Wyrsch, Ethan R.
AU - Drigo, Barbara
AU - Baker, Dave J.
AU - Charles, Ian G.
AU - Donner, Erica
AU - Jarocki, Veronica M.
AU - Djordjevic, Steven P.
N1 - Funding Information: This research was partly supported by Australian Government Medical Research Future Fund Project MRFF75873 and the Australian Centre for Genomic Epidemiological Microbiology (Ausgem), a collaborative research initiative between the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and the University of Technology Sydney; and by Quadram Institute Bioscience Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded Core Capability Grant Project BB/CCG1860/1 and BBSRC Institute Strategic Program Microbes in the Food Chain Project BB/R012504/1.
PY - 2022/7/12
Y1 - 2022/7/12
N2 - Comamonas spp. are Gram-negative bacteria that catabolize a wide range of organic and inorganic substrates. Comamonas spp. are abundant in aquatic and soil environments, including wastewater, and can cause opportunistic infections in humans. Because of their potential in wastewater bioaugmentation and bioremediation strategies, the identification of Comamonas species harboring genes encoding carbapenemases and other clinically important antibiotic resistance genes warrant further investigation. Here, we present an analysis of 39 whole-genome sequences comprising three Comamonas species from aquatic environments in South Australia that were recovered on media supplemented with carbapenems. The analysis includes a detailed description of 33 Comamonas denitrificans isolates, some of which carried chromosomally acquired blaGES-5, blaOXA, and aminoglycoside resistance (aadA) genes located on putative genomic islands (GIs). All blaGES-5- and blaOXA-containing GIs appear to be unique to this Australian collection of C. denitrificans. Notably, most open reading frames (ORFs) within the GIs, including all antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, had adjacent attC sites, indicating that these ORFs are mobile gene cassettes. One C. denitrificans isolate carried an IncP-1 plasmid with genes involved in xenobiotic degradation and response to oxidative stress. Our assessment of the sequences highlights the very distant nature of C. denitrificans to the other Comamonas species and its apparent disposition to acquire antimicrobial resistance genes on putative genomic islands.
AB - Comamonas spp. are Gram-negative bacteria that catabolize a wide range of organic and inorganic substrates. Comamonas spp. are abundant in aquatic and soil environments, including wastewater, and can cause opportunistic infections in humans. Because of their potential in wastewater bioaugmentation and bioremediation strategies, the identification of Comamonas species harboring genes encoding carbapenemases and other clinically important antibiotic resistance genes warrant further investigation. Here, we present an analysis of 39 whole-genome sequences comprising three Comamonas species from aquatic environments in South Australia that were recovered on media supplemented with carbapenems. The analysis includes a detailed description of 33 Comamonas denitrificans isolates, some of which carried chromosomally acquired blaGES-5, blaOXA, and aminoglycoside resistance (aadA) genes located on putative genomic islands (GIs). All blaGES-5- and blaOXA-containing GIs appear to be unique to this Australian collection of C. denitrificans. Notably, most open reading frames (ORFs) within the GIs, including all antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, had adjacent attC sites, indicating that these ORFs are mobile gene cassettes. One C. denitrificans isolate carried an IncP-1 plasmid with genes involved in xenobiotic degradation and response to oxidative stress. Our assessment of the sequences highlights the very distant nature of C. denitrificans to the other Comamonas species and its apparent disposition to acquire antimicrobial resistance genes on putative genomic islands.
KW - antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
KW - bla
KW - carbapenemase
KW - Comamonas
KW - Comamonas denitrificans
KW - genomic islands
KW - incP-1
KW - wastewater
KW - whole-genome sequencing (WGS)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134855433&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1128/aem.00646-22
DO - 10.1128/aem.00646-22
M3 - Article
C2 - 35708324
AN - SCOPUS:85134855433
SN - 0099-2240
VL - 88
JO - Applied and Environmental Microbiology
JF - Applied and Environmental Microbiology
IS - 13
M1 - e00646-22
ER -