Identification of class I, II, and III Integron genes in multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains

• Published in: Journal of applied and natural science 2024-06, Vol.16 (2), p.874-882
• Main Authors: Abed, Esraa S., Ali, Munim R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0974-9411; 2231-5209
• DOI: 10.31018/jans.v16i2.5519

Integrons are one genetic factor that can contribute to the high prevalence of antibiotic resistance among Acinetobacter baumannii isolates and their spread. This research aimed to study the prevalence of class 1,2 and 3 integron in A. baumannii isolates and their relatedness to virulence factors of antibiotics resistance. Seventy clinical isolates of A.baumannii were isolated from several sources such as blood, urinary tract infection (UTI), sputum, urine, and  cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). First, the isolates were identified and characterized according to certain morphology, cultural and biochemical tests. Second genotypic ally Identification of the isolates was confirmed by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which was performed by housekeeping gene 16sRNA and by (blaOxa 51gene) for A. baumannii species. The antimicrobial susceptibility technique was evaluated through disk diffusion methods. These isolates resistant to various antibiotics were analyzed for integron class I, II and III content and sequences of the amplification products by PCR. The findings showed that the predominant A. baumannii isolates were multidrug resistant and they were most resistant to 15 antibiotics. The higher resistance of A. baumannii to Gatifloxacin and lower resistance to polymyxin. Sixty clinical Multidrug resistance (MDR) isolates of A. baumannii had class I integron and five class III integron, but class II integron was not detected in the isolates. This revealed that the dissemination of MDR among A. baumannii may be associated with the presence of integrons class I and class III. These data indicate that integrons are gene cassettes containing antibiotic-resistance genes that play a major role in the virulence characteristics of MDR and Extensively-drug resistance (XDR) in Acinetobacter baumannii.