Investigation of the relationship between the presence of genesinvolved in type II toxin-antitoxin systems in Acinetobacter baumanniiand resistance to specific antibiotics

Background and Aim : The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between thepresence of genes involved in type II toxin-antitoxin systems in Acinetobacter baumannii andresistance to specific antibiotics.Methods : Seventy clinical isolates of A. baumannii were collected from variuos clinical samples.Antimicrobial Susceptibility test was determined by disk diffusion. Type II TA system-relatedgenes including GNAT, XRE -like, hipA, hipB, hicA, hicB were screened using PCR. Therelationship between the presence of toxin and antitoxin related genes and resistance to specificantibiotics was investigated.Results : The highest rate of resistance and sensitivity was observed against Cefepime (۷۷.۱۴%),and Ampicillin/sulbactam (۴۲.۸۵%) respectivley. All A. baumannii isolates were considered asMDR. In this study, three TA loci were identified for A. baumannii including GNAT/ XRE-like,HicA/HicB, and HipA/HipB and their prevalence was ۱۰۰%, ۴۲%, and ۲۷.۱%, respectively. Therewas no significant relationship between the prevalence of these systems and the origine ofA.baumannii . Our data showed significant correlations between the presence of HicA/HicBsystem and resistance to ceftazidime, meropenem, imipenem, and cefepime (P-value <۰.۰۵), andthe presence of HipA/HipB system and resistance to ceftazidime, meropenem, imipenem, andcefepime (P-value <۰.۰۵).Conclusion : The existence and expression of genes involved in the toxin-antitoxin system mayplay a role in the resistance to specific antibiotics and increase the spread and maintenance ofmultidrug resistance in bacteria.

کلیدواژه ها:

Acinetobacter baumannii ، Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems ، Antibiotic Resistance