Genotyping, local prevalence and international dissemination of β-lactamase-producing Kingella kingae strains

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2014 Nov;20(11):O811-7. doi: 10.1111/1469-0691.12648. Epub 2014 Jun 14.

Abstract

β-lactamase production has been sporadically reported in the emerging Kingella kingae pathogen but the phenomenon has not been studied in-depth. We investigated the prevalence of β-lactamase production among K. kingae isolates from different geographical origins and genetically characterized β-lactamase-producing strains. Seven hundred and seventy-eight isolates from Iceland, the USA, France, Israel, Spain and Canada were screened for β-lactamase production and, if positive, were characterized by PFGE and MLST genotyping, as well as rtxA, por, blaTEM and 16S rRNA sequencing. β-lactamase was identified in invasive strains from Iceland (n=4/14, 28.6%), the USA (n=3/15, 20.0%) and Israel (n=2/190, 1.1%) and in carriage strains in the USA (n=5/17, 29.4%) and Israel (n=66/429, 15.4%). No French, Spanish or Canadian isolates were β-lactamase producers. Among β-lactamase producers, a perfect congruency between the different typing methods was observed. Surprisingly, all US and Icelandic β-lactamase-producing isolates were almost indistinguishable, belonged to the major international invasive PFGE clone K/MLST ST-6, but differed from the four genetically unrelated Israeli β-lactamase-producing clones. Representative strains of different genotypes produced the TEM-1 enzyme. K. kingae β-lactamase producers exhibit a clear clonal distribution and have dissimilar invasive potential. The presence of the enzyme in isolates belonging to the major worldwide invasive clone K/ST-6 highlights the possible spread of β-lactam resistance, and emphasizes the importance of routine testing of all K. kingae clinical isolates for β-lactamase production.

Keywords: Clones; Kingella kingae; dissemination; genotypes; β-lactamase.

MeSH terms

  • Cluster Analysis
  • DNA, Bacterial / chemistry
  • DNA, Bacterial / genetics
  • DNA, Ribosomal / chemistry
  • DNA, Ribosomal / genetics
  • Europe
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Kingella kingae / classification*
  • Kingella kingae / enzymology*
  • Kingella kingae / genetics
  • Kingella kingae / isolation & purification
  • Molecular Epidemiology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Molecular Typing*
  • Neisseriaceae Infections / microbiology*
  • Neisseriaceae Infections / transmission*
  • North America
  • Phylogeny
  • Prevalence
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • beta-Lactamases / genetics
  • beta-Lactamases / metabolism*

Substances

  • DNA, Bacterial
  • DNA, Ribosomal
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
  • beta-Lactamases

Associated data

  • GENBANK/JQ340459
  • GENBANK/JQ340476
  • GENBANK/JX855253
  • GENBANK/KF793831
  • GENBANK/KF793832