Molecular genetic characteristics of pathogenicity factors of genus Acinetobacter representatives isolated in medical organizations of Rostov-on-Don

The most common causative agent of nosocomial infections is a representative of genus Acinetobacter, A. baumannii. The mortality rate for nosocomial pneumonia reaches 35%. An important role in pathogenicity is played by factors that are active at all stages of the infectious process, determining tissue damage macroorganism and the survival of the microorganism. Despite the fact that A. baumannii has a higher pathogenicity for humans than other representatives of the genus, representatives of other species (A. calcoaceticus and A. junii) are also isolated from sputum samples of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The aim of the study was to identify genes encoding pathogenicity factors of strains isolated from sputum samples of patients with СAP in medical organizations (MO) in Rostov-on-Don, as well as from swabs from objects of the external environment in the departments of medical organizations. The species identity of the strains was confirmed by the mass spectrometric method (MALDI-TOF). Genome-wide sequencing of genus Acinetobacter strains was performed on the Illumina MiSeq platform using the Nextera DNA Library Preparation Kit. The search for genes of pathogenicity factors of the studied strains was carried out using the Fragment Extractor program. The NCBI database was used as a database of nucleotide sequences. Among the isolated strains of genus Acinetobacter, 91.8% were A. baumannii, in solitary cases, A. calcoaceticus and A. junii were isolated. It was determined that the studied strains possessed a wide range of genes for pathogenicity factors, which is similar both in clinical strains and in strains isolated from swabs from objects of the external environment in medical facilities, which apparently indicates their relationship.