Biofilm formation, multidrug resistance, and identification of genes related to carbapenemase-producing in Klebsiella species, diagnosed by proteomic, isolated from diseased dogs.

• Grant number: 24/00496-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Marcio Garcia Ribeiro
• Grantee: Patrik Junior de Lima Paz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Species belonging genus Klebsiella have been widely found in the environment including soil, water, organic matter, and transiently, in the feces of domestic animals and humans. Routine diagnosis of the pathogen in veterinary microbiology laboratories has been based on traditional, which are not fully accurate to discriminate the great variety of Klebsiella species. In dogs, Klebsiella-induced infections have been described as an opportunistic nature, in a variety of clinical pictures, particularly pulmonary, genital, urinary, and enteric tract, as well as sepsis, with a high mortality rate. In humans, Klebsiella species have been described as related to severe hospital-acquired infections, e.g., pneumonia, encephalitis, and sepsis, with high mortality rates. Fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and ²-lactam derivatives (cephalosporins, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid) appear to be the most effective group of antimicrobials against Klebsiella species recovered from animals, particularly K. pneumoniae. Nonetheless, an increase in antimicrobial resistance of Klebsiella species has been seen, especially carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae, an emergent public health issue in the One Health concept. The pathogen may develop resistance to antimicrobials by different mechanisms, including biofilm formation, which difficult therapeutic approaches. Considering this scenario, this study aims to investigate the formation of biofilm, the occurrence of multidrug-resistant isolates, and the detection of the main genes related to carbapenemase-producing (blaKPC, blaNDM), in isolates obtained from different clinical infections in dogs, with molecular detection at species level of Klebsiella based on mass spectrometry/proteomic (Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry - MALDI-TOF).