New eight genes identified at the clinical multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii DMS06669 strain in a Vietnam hospital.

BACKGROUND: Acinetobacter baumannii is an important nosocomial pathogen that can develop multidrug resistance. In this study, we characterized the genome of the A. baumannii strain DMS06669 (isolated from the sputum of a male patient with hospital-acquired pneumonia) and focused on identification of genes relevant to antibiotic resistance.

METHODS: Whole genome analysis of A. baumannii DMS06669 from hospital-acquired pneumonia patients included de novo assembly; gene prediction; functional annotation to public databases; phylogenetics tree construction and antibiotics genes identification.

RESULTS: After sequencing the A. baumannii DMS06669 genome and performing quality control, de novo genome assembly was carried out, producing 24 scaffolds. Public databases were used for gene prediction and functional annotation to construct a phylogenetic tree of the DMS06669 strain with 21 other A. baumannii strains. A total of 18 possible antibiotic resistance genes, conferring resistance to eight distinct classes of antibiotics, were identified. Eight of these genes have not previously been reported to occur in A. baumannii.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide important information regarding mechanisms that may contribute to antibiotic resistance in the DMS06669 strain, and have implications for treatment of patients infected with A. baumannii.