Objective: To analyze the molecular characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility of two strains of Nocardia farcinica isolated from patients with joint infection using whole genome sequencing. Methods: Two strains of Nocardia farcinica causing knee-joint infections in two elderly patients were collected in January 2020. Whole genome sequencing was used to determine the nocardia species. Drug sensitivity test was performed using the micro-broth dilution and E-test method according to CLSI M24 guideline. ABRicate was used to analyze drug resistance and virulence genes. Snippy and other bioinformatic tools were used for genomic comparison, and to construct SNP homologous tree. Results: The clinical isolates in this study were both Nocardia farcinica. Antimicrobial susceptibility test showed the isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone, cefepime, cefotaxime and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX). Imipenem, linezolid and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid showed good activity. Four antibiotic resistance genes including class A β-lactamase gene far-1, RNA polymerase binding protein gene RbpA, multi-drug resistance efflux pump transcription activator gene MtrA and regulatory transcription factor gene vanR-O were identified in the Nocardia farcinica genomes, which conferred resistance to beta-lactams, rifampicin, macrolides and vancomycin respectively. No acquired TMP/SMX resistance genes were identified. There are multiple missense mutations in the dihydrofolate reductase family genes. Four virulence genes of icl, mbtH, phoP, and relA that are homologous to Mycobacterium tuberculosis were found. SNP homologous tree analysis showed the two Nocardia strains were closely related, and there were only ten SNP sites, six compound substitutions and one deletion mutation between them. Conclusions: Whole genome sequencing technology is helpful to explore the molecular characteristics and resistance mechanisms of Nocardia species. Nocardia farcinica has a trend of spreading in China. Resistance to TMP/SMX is worthy of attention. The mutation of genes involved in the metabolic pathway of dihydrofolate might be one of multiple TMP/SMX resistance mechanisms.
目的： 对临床分离的致关节感染的两株皮疽诺卡菌（Nocardia farcinica）进行全基因组测序并分析其耐药性。 方法： 2020年1月收集两株导致老年患者膝关节感染的皮疽诺卡菌菌株，采用全基因组测序对细菌进行鉴定，根据CLSI M24推荐的微量肉汤稀释法和E-test法进行药物敏感性分析，通过ABRicate工具比对获得性耐药和毒力基因，Snippy等生物信息学工具进行同源性等基因特征分析。 结果： 本研究的临床分离株均为皮疽诺卡菌，对头孢曲松、头孢吡肟、头孢噻肟、甲氧苄氨嘧啶/磺胺甲噁唑（TMP/SMX）耐药，对亚胺培南、利奈唑胺和含有酶抑制剂类抗生素阿莫西林/克拉维酸敏感。携带A类β内酰胺酶基因far-1、RNA聚合酶结合蛋白基因RbpA、多耐药外排泵转录激活因子基因MtrA和调节转录因子基因vanR-O，分别介导对β内酰胺抗生素、利福平、大环内酯类药物和万古霉素的耐药性。不含有获得性TMP/SMX耐药基因，二氢叶酸还原酶家族基因存在多个错义突变，均携带与结核分枝杆菌同源的icl、mbtH、phoP、relA毒力基因，SNP同源分析表明两株皮疽诺卡菌具有很近的亲缘关系，两株菌仅存在10个SNP位点、6个复合基因和1段基因缺失变异。 结论： 全基因测序技术有助于研究诺卡菌的分子特征和耐药机制；皮疽诺卡菌对TMP/SMX耐药现象需要重视，参与二氢叶酸代谢途径的酶基因突变有可能是TMP/SMX耐药的原因之一。.
Keywords: Dihydrofolate reductase; Homologous analysis; Nocardia farcinica; Resistance.