%0 Journal Article %T Large-scale bacterial genomic and metagenomic analysis reveals Pseudomonas aeruginosa as potential ancestral source of tigecycline resistance gene cluster tmexCD-toprJ. %A Peng K %A Liu YX %A Sun X %A Wang Q %A Song L %A Wang Z %A Li R %J Microbiol Res %V 285 %N 0 %D 2024 Aug 9 %M 38739956 %F 5.07 %R 10.1016/j.micres.2024.127747 %X BACKGROUND: The global dissemination of the multidrug resistance efflux pump gene cluster tmexCD-toprJ has greatly weakened the effects of multiple antibiotics, including tigecycline. However, the potential origin and transmission mechanisms of the gene cluster remain unclear.
METHODS: Here, we concluded a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis on integrated 73,498 bacterial genomes, including Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella spp., Aeromonas spp., Proteus spp., and Citrobacter spp., along with 1,152 long-read metagenomic datasets to trace the origin and propagation of tmexCD-toprJ.
RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that tmexCD-toprJ was predominantly found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa sourced from human hosts in Asian countries and North American countries. Phylogenetic and genomic feature analyses showed that tmexCD-toprJ was likely evolved from mexCD-oprJ of some special clones of P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, metagenomic analysis confirmed that P. aeruginosa is the only potential ancestral bacterium for tmexCD-toprJ. A putative mobile genetic structure harboring tmexCD-toprJ, int-int-hp-hp-tnfxB-tmexCD-toprJ, was the predominant genetic context of tmexCD-toprJ across various bacterial genera, suggesting that the two integrase genes play a pivotal role in the horizontal transmission of tmexCD-toprJ.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, it is almost certain that the tmexCD-toprJ gene cluster was derived from P. aeruginosa and further spread to other bacteria.