Investigation of drug efflux genes and mobile genetic elements in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

OBJECTIVE To investigate the distribution of drug efflux genes and mobile genetic elements in Pseudomonas aeruginosa(PAE)isolated from clinic.METHODS A total of 40 strains of P.aeruginosa were collected,20 from Guiyang area in Guizhou province assigned as group A and another 20 from Sunan area in Jiangsu province as group B.The antimicrobial susceptibility test(AST) was performed for 19 antibiotics with K-B method,and the drug efflux pump genes(smr,smr-2,qacE△1) and mobile genetic elements including genetic markers of the plasmid(traF,trbC),insert sequence(IS1133,ISEcp1),transposon(merA,tnpU,tnp513) and integron(qacE△,the first kind of integron genetic markers) were amplified by PCR,then the positive genes were sequenced and the sequencing results were analyzed by Blast.RESULTS PAEs in both two groups were multidrug-resistant to β-lactamases,aminoglycoside and fluoroquinolones;qacE△1 and merA were detected in group A with the positive rates of 10.0% and 5.0%,respectively;qacE△1,merA,tnpU and tnp513 genes were detected in group B with the positive rates of 100.0%,85.0%,5.0% and 55.0%,respectively.CONCLUSION The multidrug-resistant phenotype of PAE is associated with drug efflux genes and mobile genetic elements.