Whole-genome sequencing of a large collection of Myroides odoratimimus and Myroides odoratus isolates and antimicrobial susceptibility studies

Abstract

The genus Myroides comprises several species of Gram-negative, non-motile, and non-fermenting bacteria, which have been regarded as non-pathogenic for decades. Multiple recent reports, however, underscore the pathogenic potential that Myroides sp. possesses for humans. These bacteria seem to be resistant to a wide range of antibiotics (including ß-lactams and aminoglycosides). Therefore, treatment options are limited. Knowledge of antimicrobial resistance, however, is based on only one meaningful comprehensive study and on data published from case reports. This lack of data motivated us to test 59 strains from our Myroides collection (43 M. odoratimimus and 16 M. odoratus) for resistance against 20 commonly used antibiotics. We also performed molecular analyses to reveal whether our bacteria harbor the genus-specific M. odoratimimus metallo-ß-lactamase (MUS-1) or the M. odoratus metallo ß-lactamase (TUS-1), and other ß-lactamases, which may provide an explanation for the extended antimicrobial resistance.

These authors contributed equally: Florian Gunzer, Wolfram W. Rudolph.

These authors contributed equally: Florian Gunzer, Wolfram W. Rudolph.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by “Zeidler-Forschungs-Stiftung” (grant to P.S.). We thank Jörg Overmann for genome sequencing and scientific support, Enno Jacobs for his continuing support, and Sigrid Gäbler and Franziska Klann for expert technical assistance.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary Information accompanies this paper at (10.1038/s41426-018-0061-x).