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Relationship between antibiotic resistance with class 1 integron and SmeDEF efflux pump encoding genes in clinical isolates of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

  • Microbial Genetics • Original Paper
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Abstract

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an emerging multidrug-resistant organism with an increasing frequency of hospital-acquired infections predominantly in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance and frequency of the smeD, class 1 integron, and sul1 genes in clinical isolates of S. maltophilia in two Iranian provinces. From January 2020 to September 2021, 38 clinical isolates of S. maltophilia were collected from patients in hospitals in Tabriz and Sanandaj provinces of Iran. S. maltophilia isolates were confirmed by standard bacteriological tests and 16S rRNA gene PCR. Disk diffusion and the MIC test strip methods were used to determine the antibiotic resistance patterns. PCR was performed to investigate the presence of smeD, class 1 integron, and sul1 genes. The antimicrobial test for the isolated S. maltophilia showed a high level of sensitivity against most of the antibiotics used. Maximum sensitivity was recorded for ciprofloxacin (100% (38/38)) and levofloxacin 100% (38/38), followed by ceftazidime (97.36% (37/38)), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (81.57% (31/38)), ticarcillin-clavulanate (60.52% (23/38)), and piperacillin-tazobactam (55.26% (21/38)). We observed a high prevalence of smeD (100% (38/38)) and class 1 integron (94.73% (36/38)) genes in the isolates, and none of the isolates carried the sul1 gene. The findings from this study indicate that resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was not observed, and still, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is the best drug with desirable antimicrobial effect in the treatment of nosocomial infections caused by S. maltophilia strains. Despite the observation of a high number of class 1 integron, the sul1 gene was not observed, which indicates the role of this gene in high-level trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance and not having a role in low-level resistance. Based on our results, clinical microbiology laboratories need continuous surveillance of resistance rates to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, because of the possibility of S. maltophilia acquiring trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole-resistance by mobile gen elements.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article. The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the members of the microbiology laboratory of Hamadan, Tabriz and Sanandaj University of medical sciences, Iran.

Funding

The design of the study and collection, analysis, interpretation of data, and writing the manuscript was supported by a grant (grant number: 9612228413) from Vice chancellor of research and Technology of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbiology Department, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Soheila Bafandeh Zamanpour, Rasoul Yousefi Mashouf, Mohsen Nazari & Mohammad Yousef Alikhani

  2. Microbiology Department, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran

    Himen Salimizand

  3. Infectious Disease Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Mohammad Yousef Alikhani

  4. Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Safar Farajnia

Authors
  1. Soheila Bafandeh Zamanpour
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  2. Rasoul Yousefi Mashouf
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  3. Himen Salimizand
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  4. Mohsen Nazari
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  5. Mohammad Yousef Alikhani
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  6. Safar Farajnia
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Contributions

MYA conceived and designed the experiments, SBZ and MN performed the experiments, and MYA and RYM and HS analyzed the data. MYA and SB wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mohammad Yousef Alikhani or Safar Farajnia.

Ethics declarations

Consent to participate was not applicable to this study because the isolates in the study were obtained from existing clinical collections routinely collected as part of tertiary hospital laboratory practices. Clinical strains of S. maltophilia were obtained with the permission of the head of the hospital laboratory.

Ethics approval

The current study was approved by the research ethics committee of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran (ID: IR.UMSHA. REC.1396.918).

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Communicated by: Agnieszka Szalewska-Palasz

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Bafandeh Zamanpour, S., Yousefi Mashouf, R., Salimizand, H. et al. Relationship between antibiotic resistance with class 1 integron and SmeDEF efflux pump encoding genes in clinical isolates of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. J Appl Genetics 64, 591–597 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-023-00776-6

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