INTRODUCTION
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive genetic disease and results from mutations within the gene coding for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein. This life-threatening disease affects all racial and ethnic groups, though it is more common among Caucasians (
1,
2). CF is characterized by hyperproduction of viscous mucus by the affected glands, resulting mainly in impaired respiratory and pancreatic functions. The most common complication of CF involves the chronic respiratory infections caused by bacterial pathogens (
3), which are the main reason for the high morbidity and mortality of the disease (
4). Traditionally, only a few bacteria were involved in CF lung infections, including
Staphylococcus aureus,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
Haemophilus influenzae, and
Streptococcus pneumoniae. However, many new or emerging opportunistic bacteria have been described in CF patients over the past decade, for instance,
Burkholderia cepacia complex,
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia,
Achromobacter xylosoxidans,
Pandoraea spp.,
Ralstonia spp.,
Inquilinus limosus, and nontuberculosis mycobacteria, as well as fungi (
5). Chronic microbial infection, along with
P. aeruginosa infections, leads to excessive airway inflammation and the eventual loss of pulmonary function. Colistin is an extremely important antibiotic used in patients with CF upon the first acquisition and for maintenance of chronic
Pseudomonas infections. Consequently, polymyxin-resistant
P. aeruginosa clinical isolates are increasingly being reported in CF patients (
6,
7). However, although aggressive antimicrobial therapy has often helped to eradicate or minimize the deterioration of lung infections, it has eventually led to the emergence of new and/or atypical multidrug resistance bacteria, including colistin-resistant bacteria in CF. Several colistin resistance bacteria have been reported recently in CF patients, such as
I. limosus (
8),
Brevundimonas diminuta (
9),
Ochrobactrum anthropi (
9),
S. maltophilia, and
A. xylosoxidans (
8–12).
Members of the genus
Chryseobacterium, mainly
Chryseobacterium indologenes, have been documented as opportunistic pathogens known to be associated with nosocomial infections in infants and immunocompromised patients of all age groups and are resistant to colistin (
13,
14). There are about 283 reported cases of infections associated with
C. indologenes (
15,
16). In a report by Chen et al., 215 clinical isolates of multidrug-resistant
C. indologenes were identified after the increasing clinical use of colistin and tigecycline (
16), a risk for patients who have undergone extensive administration of antibiotics for a long period (
17). Although the source of infection of this microbe is not clear, it has been reported to be acquired nosocomially via medical devices and contaminated water supplies in hospitals (
18).
C. indologenes was also reported from a cohort of CF patients in Italy (
19). Thirty-five clinical isolates of
Chryseobacterium spp. (
C. indologenes,
Elizabethkingia meningoseptica [formerly
Chryseobacterium meningosepticum], and
Chryseobacterium gleum) were reported from CF patients who were also coinfected by one of the dominating pathogens of CF (
P. aeruginosa or
Burkholderia cepacia complex) (
20). Furthermore,
Chryseobacterium spp. only susceptible to cotrimoxazole and quinolones were reported in Italian CF patients who had received colistin therapy because of coinfection with
P. aeruginosa or
B. cepacia (
21). The genetic basis of these multidrug-resistant bacteria remains unknown. Nonetheless, bacterial whole-genome sequencing is an economically feasible tool for deciphering the resistome (
22) and has provided unprecedented insight into the evolution of antibiotic resistance (AR) (
23).
Here, we report the whole-genome sequence used to decipher the resistome and genomic properties of Chryseobacterium oranimense G311, a colistin-resistant Gram-negative bacterium isolated for the first time from the sputum of a 26-month-old child with CF. It should be noted that the patient was coinfected with S. maltophilia and P. aeruginosa and had received colistin treatment prior to the isolation of this colistin-resistant bacterium. We speculate that colistin therapy led to the selection of this colistin-resistant bacterium; however, we could not isolate any other strain to perform the comparison. The true significance of isolating C. oranimense G311 in terms of clinical evolution is difficult to establish; however, it could be clinically significant, especially in immunocompromised patients. We also performed a comparison of the C. oranimense G311 genome with the genomes of closely related C. gleum ATCC 35910 and Chryseobacterium sp. strain CF314.
DISCUSSION
Chryseobacterium species are found in a variety of habitats and essentially ubiquitous, though some are opportunist pathogens (
32).
C. oranimense has been reported to be isolated from raw milk (
30), yet this is the first report of
C. oranimense in humans, i.e., from a CF patient.
Chryseobacterium species are multidrug resistant, with most intrinsically resistant to penicillin, first- and second-generation cephalosporin, aztreonam (
14,
33), and colistin (
16), and have been reported to be acquired nosocomially via medical devices and contaminated water supplies in hospitals (
18). Using a polyphasic approach, some studies have reported the presence of unusual bacteria, such as
Acinetobacter spp.,
Bordetella spp.,
Comamonas spp.,
Rhizobium spp.,
Herbaspirillum spp.,
Moraxella spp.,
I. limosus, and
Chryseobacterium spp., in the sputum samples from CF patients (
34). Although the emergence of new multidrug-resistant, Gram-negative bacteria in CF lung infections has been relatively low, the incidence is increasing considerably, presenting a serious challenge for the development of effective and appropriate antibiotic therapies when they are misidentified. It is known that
Chryseobacterium spp. cause infections in immunocompromised patients (
13,
14), and their existence in CF airways has been reported over the last 10 years (
34). One study reports
E. meningoseptica and
C. indologenes as the most frequently isolated species, followed by
C. gleum and coinfections with at least one Gram-negative bacterium, such as
P. aeruginosa,
A. xylosoxidans,
S. maltophilia, or
B. cepacia complex in CF patients (
34). Many of the isolates in the above-named study were found to be resistant to imipenem but were not checked for resistance to colistin, whereas our multidrug isolate was found to be resistant to both imipenem and colistin. As the life expectancy of CF patients has increased, antimicrobial pressure has also experienced an increase, and, consequently, more multidrug-resistant microorganisms are being isolated from the CF lung microbiota. Importantly, as these bacteria have developed multiple mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, they must be identified correctly for designing therapeutic treatments.
The genomic comparison of
C. oranimense G311 with the available genomes of
Chryseobacterium gleum ATCC 35910 and
Chryseobacterium sp. strain CF314 (
35) revealed similar genome sizes and GC contents, and none of them harbored any plasmid (
Table 1). Apart from deciphering the resistome of this atypical bacterium, which will be discussed in details below, we identified three specific features in the
C. oranimense G311 genome. First, the presence of PKS might play a role in the synthesis of zeaxanthin, a secondary metabolite imparting the yellowish pigmentation of the isolate.
Flavobacterium multivorum has been widely studied for the production of the xanthophyll carotenoid zeaxanthin, as this species could be used as a commercial source of zeaxanthin (
36). High intake of foods providing zeaxanthin is related with lower incidence of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), mostly for ocular and retinal health. They are used as supplemental antioxidants in treating ARMD (
37). The presence of this bacterium, which produces beta-carotene, in a clinical isolate in the context of CF was unexpected, and the role this bacterium may play in the lung microbiota remains to be studied in the future. Second, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) cluster in the genome of this bacterium could be acquired laterally and to the best of our knowledge was unknown in this genus. This cluster consisted of glycosyltransferases (see Table S2 in the supplemental material) that likely contribute to modification of LPS (
38), which is a well-known phenomenon associated with resistance to polymyxins (
38–41). Third,
C. oranimense G311 also harbors a new capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis (K-antigen) gene cluster that was unique to this genome and also acquired laterally. Within this cluster, the
wza and
wzc genes have been described as outer membrane lipoprotein and integral inner membrane protein/protein tyrosine kinase, respectively, in some human pathogens, such as
K. pneumoniae K2 and
Escherichia coli K-12 (
42–45). Another gene product,
ugd, was identified, which is involved in the production of UDP-4-amino-4-deoxy-
l-arabinose, a compound that renders
E. coli resistant to cationic antimicrobial peptides (
46). The
ugd produces UDP-glucuronic acid (UDPGA), which plays a role in the production of a sugar derivative, UDP-4-amino-4-deoxy-
l-arabinose (
l-Ara4N), which is vital for bacterial resistance to polymyxin (
38,
47). Capsular clusters in the genus
Flavobacterium have been reported in
Flavobacterium columnare ATCC 43622 (
48),
Flavobacterium psychrophilum strain 259-93 (
49), and
Zunongwangia profunda SM-A87 (
50).
The resistome of
C. oranimense G311 comprises a reservoir of diverse β-lactamases, including a class A β-lactamase gene,
blaCME, and the
cme-1 gene has been reported to be structurally divergent from other class A enzymes (
51) in
E. meningoseptica. The
cme-1 gene encodes a clavulanic acid-susceptible extended-spectrum β-lactamase that hydrolyzes most of the cephalosporins, such as cefotaxime and ceftazidime, and monobactams, such as aztreonam, though it does not hydrolyze cephamycins and carbapenems. The
C. oranimense G311
cme-like gene clustered with the
cme-1 gene reported from
E. meningoseptica (data not shown). Another class A β-lactamase gene,
penA, encodes penicillin-binding protein PBP-2a, which is a
mecA gene product that can result in ceftazidime and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid resistance if it is overproduced or mutated (
52,
53). We discovered two genes for class B metallo-β-lactamases: a
blaGOB-like gene and a putative metallo-β-lactamase
blaIND gene. Class B lactamases (generically termed metallo-β-lactamases) employ one or two Zn(II) ions for cleaving the β-lactam ring. The Gob-18 is fully active against a broad range of β-lactam substrates and has been reported from
E. meningoseptica (
54); many more variants of
gob genes have recently been reported from this species, which is known to be intrinsically resistant to most β-lactams, including carbapenems (
55). The
blaIND-4 gene found in the
C. oranimense G311 genome is 93.7% similar to
blaIND-4 from
C. indologenes 009 (
56), an enzyme that is able to hydrolyze carbapenems. We also discovered many class C extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), such as
blaACC-,
blaampH-,
blaACC-4-, and
blaCMY-like; however, certain genes, such as
blaACC-like, showed similarities with the reported genes from plant sources (
57).
The most common mechanism of resistance to colistin is modification of the LPS structure (
58). Intrinsic resistance to polymyxins in
Burkholderia cenocepacia and
Proteus mirabilis has been linked to alterations in their lipid A structure with the addition at the 4′-phosphate moiety of the LPS of 4-amino-
l-arabinopyranose and 4-amino-
l-arabinose (
l-Ara4N), respectively (
59,
60). Such modifications have also been reported for
K. pneumoniae and
E. coli (
58). In
K. pneumoniae, the resistance to polymyxin is due to increased production of capsular polysaccharides (
61). Recently, it has been demonstrated that in
Acinetobacter baumannii or in
Enterobacter aerogenes, acquired resistance to colistin may also be due to mutations in the
pmrA-pmrB two-component systems (
62,
63). Finally loss of LPS production by mutations in the three genes
lpxA,
lpxC, and
lpxD has been associated with the resistance to
Acinetobacter baumannii (
64). Here, we found similar variants of
pmrA (E8D) (
63),
pmrB (L208F, P360Q) (
64), and
lpxA (G68D) (
Table 4) (
65) that confer resistance to colistin in
Acinetobacter baumannii (
63–65). Thus, we believe the intrinsic resistance of
C. oranimense G311 to colistin is due to both alterations in LPS and production of capsular polysaccharides.
Conclusion.
In conclusion, we believe that the increased clinical use of nebulized colistin in patients with CF might have led to the selection of this specific colistin-resistant bacterium. Our findings provide insight into the mechanism of colistin resistance in the genus Chryseobacterium, as it is well known that many clinically significant species from this genus are intrinsically resistant to many antimicrobial agents. This bacterium could be considered an opportunistic human pathogen in immunocompromised patients. We demonstrate that whole-genome sequencing was successfully applied to completely decipher the resistome of this multidrug-resistant bacterium associated with CF patients.