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Contribution of the thermotolerance genomic island to increased thermal tolerance in Cronobacter strains

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Abstract

Cronobacter spp. are opportunistic pathogens associated with serious infections in neonates. Increased stress tolerance, including the thermotolerance of some Cronobacter strains, can promote their survival in production facilities and thus raise the possibility of contamination of dried infant formula which has been identified as a potential source of infection. Some Cronobacter strains contain a genomic island, which might be responsible for increased thermotolerance. By analysis of Cronobacter sequenced genomes this determinant was found to be present in only 49/73 Cronobacter sakazakii strains and in 9/14 Cronobacter malonaticus strains. The island was also found in 16/17 clinical isolates originating from two hospitals. Two configurations of the locus were detected; the first one with the size of 18 kbp containing the thrB-Q genes and a shorter version (6 kbp) harbouring only the thrBCD and thrOP genes. Strains containing the thermotolerance island survived significantly better at 58 °C comparing to a C. sakazakii isogenic mutant lacking the island and strains with the longer version of the island were 2–10 times more tolerant than those with the shortened sequence. The function of the genomic island was further confirmed by its cloning into a low-copy vector and transforming it into the isogenic mutant. Different levels of rpoS, encoding for stress-response sigma factor, expression were also associated with variability in strain thermotolerance.

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Acknowledgments

This publication is the result of the project implementation (ITMS 26240220086) supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF and by Slovak Ministry of Education under the Contract No. VEGA 1/0709/12. Project supported by Research Support Foundation, Vaduz - Grant project No. 801100021/39 - Surveillance of Infectious Complications in Hemato-Oncological Patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Maria Orieskova, Michal Kajsik, Tomas Szemes, Jan Turna & Hana Drahovska

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University, Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Ondrej Holy

  3. Pathogen Research Group, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK

    Stephen Forsythe

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  1. Maria Orieskova
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  2. Michal Kajsik
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  3. Tomas Szemes
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  4. Ondrej Holy
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  5. Stephen Forsythe
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  6. Jan Turna
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  7. Hana Drahovska
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Correspondence to Hana Drahovska.

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Orieskova, M., Kajsik, M., Szemes, T. et al. Contribution of the thermotolerance genomic island to increased thermal tolerance in Cronobacter strains. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 109, 405–414 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-016-0645-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-016-0645-1

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