Molecular typing of the Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from blood infections using Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST)
Subject Areas : Molecular Microbiology
Zohreh Mohammadi
1
(M.Sc., Department of Microbiology, Shahrekord branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran.)
Hassan Momtaz
2
(Professor, Department of Microbiology, Shahrekord branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran.)
Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii, Genetic clones, Housekeeping genes, Multi Locus Sequence Typing, Blood infection,
Abstract :
Background & Objectives: Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative coccobacillus that is widely distributed in nature and considered as one of the important causes of hospital infections. The present study was conducted to genotype Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from blood infections using Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) method. Materials & Methods: A total of 36 Acinetobacter baumannii strains were isolated from blood infection samples collected from Baqiatalah and Payambaran hospitals, Tehran, Iran. The PCR products obtained from amplification of seven housekeeping genes were sequenced. The nucleotide sequences of each gene in each isolate were queried against the reference sequence in the MLST database. In addition to characterization of the alleles specific to each gene, thesequence types (ST) of all isolates were determined. Results: A total of 5 clones including ST25, ST136, ST307, ST327, and ST328 were identified in 36 isolates. ST of 2 isolates were not identified in MLST database. The identified STs were placed into 5 genetic clusters including A, B, C, D, and E. Conclusion: Identifying an acceptable level of genetic diversity among the isolates using MLST technique shows that this method is useful for studying and typing of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates. Therefore, it is possible to cluster isolates with diverse origins in different groups.
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