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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 2002, p. 3679-3682, Vol. 46, No. 11
0066-4804/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.46.11.3679-3682.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Expression of SHV-2 ß-Lactamase and of Reduced Amounts of OmpK36 Porin in Klebsiella pneumoniae Results in Increased Resistance to Cephalosporins and Carbapenems
Brendan Crowley,1 Vicente J. Benedí,2* and Antonio Doménech-Sánchez2
Public Health Laboratory, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool L9 7AL, United Kingdom,1
Laboratorio de Microbiología, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07071-Palma de Mallorca, Spain2
Received 13 February 2002/
Returned for modification 22 May 2002/
Accepted 9 August 2002

ABSTRACT
A
Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolate was resistant to cefoxitin,
cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftazidime-clavulanate, piperacillin-tazobactam
(MICs, >256 µg/ml in all cases), and meropenem (MIC,
16 µg/ml) and was intermediate to imipenem (MIC, 8 µg/ml).
Decreased expression of the OmpK36 porin and expression of an
SHV-2 ß-lactamase contributed to the observed resistance
to these ß-lactam-containing agents.

TEXT
Expanded-spectrum cephalosporins play an important role in the
treatment of infections due to
Klebsiella pneumoniae. However,
the presence of a carbapenemase or the expression of AmpC or
SHV-2 ß-lactamases combined with decreased outer membrane
permeability provide resistance to these agents (
3,
7,
10).
In this report, we investigate the resistance mechanisms in a K. pneumoniae clinical isolate resistant to oxyiminocephalosporins,
-methoxycephalosporins, and carbapenems. K. pneumoniae 103624 was isolated from blood cultures of a 60-year-old male with pneumonia. He was neutropenic following chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma, developed pneumonia, and was treated empirically with ceftazidime. After receipt of antibiotic susceptibility test results, treatment was changed to a combination of imipenem, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin. Following 2 weeks of treatment, all signs of pneumonia had resolved. The patient had received 7 days of treatment with piperacillin-tazobactam and ceftazidime 6 weeks prior to this episode. The susceptibility of K. pneumoniae 103624 to antimicrobials (Table 1) indicated resistance to
-methoxycephalosporins (cefoxitin); oxyiminocephalosporins (cefotaxime and ceftazidime); ß-lactam-ß-lactamase inhibitor combinations such as ceftazidime-clavulanate, piperacillin-tazobactam (MICs, >256 µg/ml in all cases), and amoxicillin-clavulanate (MICs, 64 and 32 µg/ml, respectively); and meropenem (MIC, 16 µg/ml), and intermediate status for imipenem (MIC, 8 µg/ml). However, the strain was susceptible to all of the non-ß-lactam compounds tested, such as gentamicin, amikacin, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline.
Isoelectric focusing analysis of
K. pneumoniae 103624 was performed
as previously described (
13) and yielded one single ß-lactamase
band with pI 7.6 that was inhibited by clavulanate but not by
EDTA. Plasmid analysis of
K. pneumoniae 103624 showed that the
organism carried two plasmids of 3 and 90 kb designated p3 and
p90, respectively. The plasmid carrying the ß-lactamase
gene (p90) was identified after conjugation-mediated transfer
to
Escherichia coli K-12 14R525 and selection on amoxicillin
(50 µg/ml) and nalidixic acid (30 µg/ml). It was
associated with resistance to ceftazidime and cefotaxime and
did not confer resistance to other antibiotics, including cefoxitin,
imipenem, and meropenem (Table
1). Transconjugants were more
resistant to ceftazidime-clavulanate and piperacillin-tazobactam
but remained susceptible to gentamicin, amikacin, ciprofloxacin,
and tetracycline (MICs of 0.125, 1.0, 0.125, and 0.5 µg/ml,
respectively). Isoelectric focusing analysis also revealed a
single ß-lactamase band with pI 7.6 that was inhibited
by clavulanate. PCR amplification using the SHV primers GCCCGGGTTATTCTTATTTGTCGC
and TCTTTCCGATGCCGCCGCCAGTCA (5'-to-3' sequences) (
11) and restriction
fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the PCR amplicon
from isolate 103624 with
NheI produced two fragments of 770
and 247 bp, confirming the presence of the SHV-2 gene, and an
unrestricted product of 1,017 bp, which indicated the additional
presence of SHV-1. The same PCR-RFLP analysis applied to the
transconjugant produced only the 770- and 247-bp fragments,
corresponding to the presence of SHV-2 alone. This was further
confirmed by DNA sequencing (Applied Biosystems sequencer and
dye-terminator chemistry). These data indicated that
K. pneumoniae 103624 expresses a plasmid-borne extended-spectrum ß-lactamase,
SHV-2, and implied that another nontransferable mechanism should
be responsible for the observed resistance to expanded-spectrum
cephalosporins, cefoxitin, and carbapenems. Since porin deficiency
is a well-established mechanism of resistance in
K. pneumoniae and other species, the outer membrane of the isolate was characterized.
Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and porins were isolated by differential solubilization in sodium lauryl sarkosinate and by a combination of methods, respectively, as described before (1). Electrophoretic analysis was performed in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-11% polyacrylamide gels as described previously (6).
When grown in the low-osmolarity medium nutrient broth (71 mosmol/kg), K. pneumoniae 103624 showed a single band migrating above the constitutively expressed OmpA (Fig. 1, lane 2) which was not expressed in the high-osmolarity (1,511 mosmol/kg) Luria-Bertani broth (Fig. 1, lane 1). The apparent molecular mass of the osmolarity-regulated protein supported the conclusion that it was a porin, and this was confirmed because the protein could be isolated by using porin isolation methods (Fig. 1, lane 3) based on trypsin resistance and differential solubilization as previously described (9). Its regulation by osmolarity is similar to that of the OmpF-type porins, like the K. pneumoniae porin OmpK35, and differs from that of the OmpC-type porins, like the K. pneumoniae porin OmpK36 (6). Expression of porin OmpK37 was not detected by Western blotting experiments (data not shown) performed as previously described (4). This is consistent with the observed resistance of the isolate to imipenem and meropenem, since OmpK37 confers sensitivity to them while being less permeable to cephalosporins (4). However, the expression of OmpK35 by isolate 103624, as deduced from the SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) experiments, contradicts our previous observation that most K. pneumoniae clinical isolates expressing extended-spectrum ß-lactamases express the OmpK36 porin but do not express, or express reduced amounts of, OmpK35.
Thus, we performed three types of concurrent experiments to
clarify the contribution of porins to the observed resistance.
First, we PCR amplified and sequenced the
ompK36 and
ompK35 porin genes of the isolate. Second, we analyzed the expression
of these two genes by RNA isolation and reverse transcriptase
PCR (RT-PCR)-specific amplification. Third, we isolated and
sequenced the N terminus of the porin.
Compared to the wild type (Fig. 2) (unpublished data), the deduced OmpK35 sequence from isolate 103624 contained three silent changes at positions 474 (T to C, Ser), 648 (C to G, Val), and 786 (C to T, Ala), with the A of the ATG start codon of the wild-type ompK35 gene considered position 1. Most importantly, one change was found in position 847, where codon TGG changed to the stop codon TAG. This should result (Fig. 2) in a truncated porin lacking the last 44 amino acids and without expression in the outer membrane, since the terminal F residue is necessary for such expression (12). Comparison of the sequence of OmpK36 from the isolate with that of wild-type OmpK36 revealed that most differences were found in the predicted external loops (Fig. 2). These included amino acid replacements (17 changes) and insertions (nine amino acids), whereas the predicted ß strands, which constitute most of the secondary structure, were quite conserved (five replacements).
Expression of porin genes in the isolate was studied by RT-PCR
(Fig.
3). RNA was extracted with an RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen),
and chromosomal DNA was extracted using cetyltrimethylammonium
bromide. These were amplified with primers U681 and L1316, which
anneal to both porin genes and have been described before (
4).
Primers UE36 and LE35, GCAGCGTCAGCGGCGAAGG and GGAGAAGCCAGCACGCGAC
(5' to 3'), respectively, are specific for the
ompK36 and
ompK35 genes. RT-PCR amplifications with the U681-LE35 and UE36-L1316
primer pairs were performed using a Promega Access RT-PCR System
kit, and amplicons were detected by agarose electrophoresis.
Real-time RT-PCR was also performed using Light Cycler (Roche)
and the Light Cycler RNA Master SYBR Green I kit and 3 mM MnCl
2.
The results of both the RT-PCR (Fig.
3A) and real-time RT-PCR
(Fig.
3B) experiments confirmed that it was the
ompK36 gene,
not the
ompK35 gene, that was being expressed by isolate 103624.
Finally, determination of the N-terminal sequence of the porin
expressed by isolate 103624 confirmed that the porin being expressed
is the OmpK36 homologue in this strain and not OmpK35: the sequence
AEIYNKDGNKLD was determined, which coincides with that of wild-type
OmpK36 (
1), with the seventh residue being an N in OmpK35 (unpublished
data; see also the data listed in GenBank under accession no.
AJ011501) (Fig.
2).
It is difficult to reconcile OmpK36 expression with the observed MICs because expression of wild-type OmpK36 should cause sensitivity to, e.g., cefoxitin (2, 9) unless the porin being expressed has some structural changes making it less permeable to antimicrobials. Sequence inspection showed minor changes and the presence of all of the amino acids that are important for OmpK36 pore function (Fig. 2), including the arginine cluster R37-R75-R125 (numbering based on the mature wild-type OmpK36) and K16 that in the tertiary structure are found opposed to D106 and E110 across the pore and that play major roles in charge segregation (5). These sequence changes do not contribute to the observed MICs, as demonstrated by liposome experiments performed as previously described (4, 5) with the OmpK36 porins isolated from strain 103624 and from wild-type strain C3 (1). In these experiments, liposomes containing the OmpK36 porin from the isolate were in fact slightly more permeable than those with the wild-type OmpK36, which therefore does not explain the MICs (Table 2).
View this table:
[in this window]
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TABLE 2. Sugar permeation through OmpK36 porins extracted from wild-type strain C3 (wtOmpK36) and isolate 103624 (isOmpK36)
|
The contribution of reduced OmpK36 expression was studied by
expressing in the isolate both OmpK36 cloned from the isolate
and the wild-type porin from strain C3. The
ompK36 gene was
amplified by PCR using primers ompk36-0 (AAGCTTGTTGGATTATTCTGC)
and ompk36-end (CAAGCTTAGAACTGGTAAACC) (5'-to-3' sequences),
which in the wild-type OmpK36 (GenBank accession no.
Z33506)
anneal 95 and 1,098 nucleotides upstream and downstream of the
ATG start codon, respectively, thus amplifying the gene and
promoter, and was cloned in vector pCR2.1 (Invitrogen). Cloned
products were introduced in the isolate by electroporation and
selection with kanamycin, and porin expressions were confirmed
by SDS-PAGE analysis of the OMPs. The increased OmpK36 expression
resulting from the cloning of
ompK36 from wild-type strain C3
and from isolate 103624 (Fig.
1, lanes 4 and 5) produced a reduction
in the MICs of all tested antimicrobials. These reductions were
the same for both porins, thus confirming that reduced porin
expression in the isolate, not alterations in the porin sequence,
contributed to the observed MICs. This was further confirmed
by expression of OmpK36 cloned from both wild-type strain C3
and from isolate 103624 in the porinless isolate CSUB10R (
2).
Expression of either porin caused the same reduction in the
MICs of all antimicrobials tested.
The expression of AmpC-type ß-lactamases and the loss of porin expression as a cause of cephalosporin and carbapenem resistance in K. pneumoniae (2, 3, 10) and in other species has been described previously. Isolate 103624 does not exhibit the above-mentioned mechanisms, because it expresses an SHV-2 enzyme rather than an AmpC-type enzyme and because it is porin sufficient, since it expresses a porin. A carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolate has also been isolated in the United Kingdom, but its resistance mechanism, increased expression of an SHV-2 ß-lactamase and loss of an OMP, differs from that of our isolate (8). Carbapenem resistance is still rare in K. pneumoniae, but the results with our isolate illustrate that it is not always sufficient to analyze the expression of porins by SDS-PAGE when studying their possible contribution to antimicrobial resistance. Genetic studies demonstrated that the decreased amount of OmpK36 porin expressed by the isolate, together with the expression of SHV-1 and SHV-2, contributed to the observed resistance to ß-lactam-containing agents.
Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.
The DNA sequences of the ompK35 and ompK36 genes from isolate 103624 have been deposited in GenBank and EMBL under accession no. AJ303057 and AJ344089, respectively.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank L. Martínez-Martínez (University of Seville)
for helpful discussions throughout this work and A. Johnson
(PHLS Colindale, London, England) for help with MIC determinations.
This work was partially supported by grants from the Spanish Government to V.J.B. A.D.-S. was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from Ministerio de Educación y Cultura of the Spanish Government.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratorio de Microbiología, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Carretera de Valldemosa Km. 7,5, 07071-Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Phone: 34-971-173353. Fax: 34-971-173184. E-mail:
vjbenedi{at}uib.es.


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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 2002, p. 3679-3682, Vol. 46, No. 11
0066-4804/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.46.11.3679-3682.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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