Novel tigecycline resistance gene cluster tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b in Proteus spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, co-existing with tet(X6) on an SXT/R391 integrative and conjugative element

Abstract Objectives To characterize a novel MDR efflux pump gene cluster tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b carried by Proteus spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains from chickens. Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, conjugation and WGS were performed to characterize tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b-positive isolates. Cloning and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR were performed to investigate the function of tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b. Results The WGS data revealed that a novel efflux pump gene cluster, tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b, was identified on the chromosome of the Proteus cibarius strain SDQ8C180-2T, where an SXT/R391-family integrative and conjugative element (ICE) was found to co-carry tet(X6) and tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b. Further retrospective analysis found two other tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b variants in a Proteus mirabilis isolate and a P. aeruginosa isolate, respectively. tmexCD3-toprJ1b and its variants increased the MICs of tigecycline (8-fold) and other antibiotics (2–8-fold) in Escherichia coli host strains. The TNfxB3 protein down-regulated the expression of the tmexCD3-toprJ1b operon. Moreover, genetic-context analyses showed that tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b together with adjacent integrase genes appeared to compose a transferable module ‘int1-like+int2-like+hp1+hp2+ISCfr1+tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b’, which was inserted into the umuC-like gene of this ICE. Further analysis of the tnfxB3-tmexCD3-toprJ1b-harbouring sequences deposited in GenBank revealed similar transferable modules inserted into umuC-like genes in plasmids or chromosomes of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas spp. and Aeromonas spp., implying that these modules could be transferred across different bacterial species. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first identification of a novel tigecycline gene cluster, tmexCD3-toprJ1b, which co-exists with tet(X6) within an ICE. More attention should be paid to the co-transfer of these two tigecycline resistance determinants via an ICE to other Gram-negative bacteria.