Molecular characterization of extraintestinal Escherichia coli isolates in Japan: relationship between sequence types...

Infection from fluoroquinolone-resistant Enterobacteriaceae is an increasing health problem worldwide. In the present study, we developed a pyrosequencing-based high-throughput method for analyzing the nucleotide sequence of the quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDRs) of gyrA and parC. By using this method, we successfully determined the QRDR sequences of 139 out of 140 clinical Escherichia coli isolates, 28% of which were nonsusceptible to ciprofloxacin. Sequence results obtained by the pyrosequencing method were in complete agreement with those obtained by the Sanger method. All fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates (n = 35; 25%) contained mutations leading to three or four amino acid substitutions in the QRDRs. In contrast, all isolates lacking a mutation in the QRDR (n = 81; 57%) were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and nalidixic acid. The qnr determinants, namely, the qnrA, qnrB, and qnrS genes, were not detected in the isolates, and the aac(6')-Ib-cr gene was detected in 2 (1.4%) of the isolates. Multilocus sequence typing of 34 randomly selected isolates revealed that sequence type 131 (ST131) (n = 7; 20%) is the most prevalent lineage and is significantly resistant to quinolones (P < 0.01). The genetic background of quinolone-susceptible isolates seemed more diverse, and interestingly, neighboring STs of ST131 in the phylogenetic tree were all susceptible to ciprofloxacin. In conclusion, our investigation reveals the relationship between fluoroquinolone resistance caused by mutations of QRDRs and the population structure of clinical extraintestinal E. coli isolates. This high-throughput method for analyzing QRDR mutations by pyrosequencing is a powerful tool for epidemiological studies of fluoroquinolone resistance in bacteria.