Authors:

Gabriella Baltes

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Klebsiella aerogenes, formerly identified as Enterobacter aerogenes, is a ubiquitous and opportunistic pathogen that is known to infect the respiratory tract, the urinary tract, and the bloodstream. It is the cause of many ICU-acquired infections and is one of the most common causes of UTIs aside from E. coli. K. aerogenes has demonstrated antibiotic resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics, leading to the emergence of multidrug resistant strains and even pan-drug resistant strains in its most severe form. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of infectious cases caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales, including K. aerogenes. To combat this, carbapenems have been used as a common antibiotic therapy against ESBL-pathogens, leading to the emergence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) strains [1]. Thus, the difficulty of treating infections caused by Klebsiella aerogenes makes it a global priority for the development of new treatment options. One of the main mechanisms by which K. aerogenes demonstrates resistance to carbapenems is through a chromosomal overexpression of AmpC. B-lactamase [2]. In this study, the lambda Red recombination system was used in a laboratory strain of Klebsiella aerogenes to precisely delete two AmpC genes conferring ampicillin resistance [3]. Successful recombination events were confirmed using PCR analysis, showing deletion of both AmpC genes and integration of the kanamycin cassette at the target locus. Genomic DNA was subsequently purified from the mutant strain, and PCR amplification showed a distinct difference between the wild-type and mutant genomes consistent with the targeted deletions. The results establish a system to use Klebsiella aerogenes to express plasmids without the need for carbenicillin. This platform may enable future protein expression studies using Klebsiella aerogenes as a vector system for proteins that would be difficult to express in other bacterial hosts.

Source:

Illinois Institute of Technology

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Co-authors:

Gabriella Baltes