Antagonism and population dynamics of Acinetobacter baumannii from US military treatment centers

Abstract

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria complicate many infections and can be difficult to eradicate from hospitals. The population dynamics and ecology of these organisms in the hospital setting, however, is not well understood. Here, we report extensive strain-based antagonistic interactions occurring in military clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterial species that causes many drug-resistant hospital-associated infections.Sequence-based phylogenetic analysis of isolates allowed for differentiation to two major clades, with one of the clades representing two closely related genetic groups.Antagonistic activity was detected using a spot-plate assay to test pairwise interactions of all isolates. Isolates exhibited extensive and diverse patterns of antagonism against other isolates. One major clade of isolates had a distinct change in antagonism phenotype between isolates that differed by one base pair out of ~1500bp sequenced, with consistent antagonism of one group of isolates by the other. Both the antagonistic and the sensitive group exhibited extensive drug resistance. The first isolate of the antagonistic group was cultured in May 2010. The proportion of isolates from the antagonistic group collected before and after July 2010 increased from 2% to 76%. The results of this early study of the ecology of hospital-associated bacterial populations are discussed in the context of the species ecology of bacteria in natural environments. This work is a potential starting point for investigations into ecological interventions for infection control in hospitals.