[Evaluation of selected properties of morphological variants of Acinetobacter baumannii complex]

The ability of growth of Acinetobacter baumannii as morphology colony variants have been observed. However, the importance of this phenomenon for its biology is not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate some properties of light and dark morphology colony variants.

Fifty two isolates were identified by MALDI TOF MS method (MALDI Biotyper, BRUKER). It was evaluated the adhesion to polystyrene and extracellular mucus production of morphology colony variants and its susceptibility to imipenem and meropenem by agar dilution method.

Forty eight (92.3%) out of the 52 morphotypes Acinetobacter sp. were identified as A. baumannii, two (5.8%) as A. genomospecies 3, one as the A. calcoaceticus. Sixteen (61.0%) pairs of isolates showed differences in the similarity of the spectra to the spectra of reference strains in the MALDI-TOF MS method. Adhesion to polystyrene was observed in all dark and 92.3% light morphotypes. Extracellular slime was produced by 15 (57.7%) dark morphotypes, and 7 (26.9%) of clear. The differences in susceptibility to imipenem occurred in two (7.7%), and meropenem in three (11.5%) pairs of morphotypes.

The results show diversity of biological properties of morphology colony variants of A. baumannii complex. Differences in the level of adhesion to polystyrene and slime production may indicate the importance of morphological differentiation in virulence of A. baumannii complex.