Worldwide distribution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa clone C strains in the aquatic environment and cystic fibrosis patients

Abstract

Highly successful bacterial clones have the ability to effectively colonize environmental niches and patients. However, the factors which determine the complex interplay between the colonization of environmental niches and patients are mainly unknown. In this study we show that Pseudomonas aeruginosa clone C strains are distributed worldwide and highly prone to infect cystic fibrosis (CF) patients in Canada, England, France and Germany. In Hanover, Germany and Vancouver, Canada, clone C strains are highly prevalent in the CF patient community, although the mechanisms of acquisition may have been different. All clone C strains showed highly related macrorestriction fragment pattern of the whole genome as visualized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and harboured the 102 kbp plasmid pKLC102. Comparison of three prevalent P. aeruginosa clones with different distribution between the environment and patients revealed that neither enhanced biofilm formation nor antibiotic resistance was responsible for the spread of clone C. Clone M, which was highly prevalent in the clinical environment such as sanitary facilities, lacked motility, which could explain its relatively low prevalence in CF patients. Elucidation of the mechanisms which lead to the prevalence of clone C strain in patients and the environment requires the investigation of additional phenotypes.

Twenty-Five-Year Outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infecting Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis: Identification of the Prairie Epidemic Strain

“…PES isolates share a 92% degree of similarity, whereas LES/strain A isolates share 86% similarity. isolate), the vast majority of prevalent CF strains have not been found in environmental reservoirs, supporting the theory of patient-to-patient spread (10,29,30,34). Given the large geographical area in which patients with PES reside, the diversity of their ecological environments, the potential for these patients to have interacted through common clinics and summer camps, the fact that it has not previously been identified as an environmental source, and the inability to identify this isolate in local patients with nCFB, it is exceedingly unlikely that PES represents a common environmental source of infection.…”

“…Two clone C isolates, representing a P. aeruginosa strain with global distribution in the environment but found within CF patients, were also included (29,30). Seventeen strains of P. aeruginosa isolated from 16 patients with nCFB were used as controls.…”

Characterization of medically important Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates

“…One of the most successful clones of P. aeruginosa is clone C, which had been found to spread throughout Europe in the aquatic environment and in clinical samples [42,43,44]. Clone C strains were found to be especially successful in infecting patients with cystic fibrosis.…”

“…Clone C strains were found to be especially successful in infecting patients with cystic fibrosis. In a survey of CF population of the Medical school of Hannover, 30 % of the CF patients found to harbour clone C isolates [42], and it was also common in France [44], United Kingdom [46], Sweden [45], Canada [42], Belgium [45] and in Germany [44] as well. However, Vosahlikova et al…”

“…Romling et al [42] investigated several features of clone C P. aeruginosa isolates, which can determine the capability for spreading and causing infections, especially in CF patients. Neither enhanced biofilm formation, nor enhanced antibiotic resistance was observed within clone C isolates, and previous studies revealed, that they do not produce pyocianin, or bacteriocins either, so there is still no answer to that very complex and still remains a challenging question.…”