Involvement of Fe Uptake Systems and AmpC β-Lactamase in Susceptibility to the Siderophore Monosulfactam BAL30072 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
ABSTRACTBAL30072 is a monosulfactam conjugated with an iron-chelating dihydroxypyridone moiety. It is active against Gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistantPseudomonas aeruginosa. We selected mutants with decreased susceptibilities to BAL30072 inP. aeruginosaPAO1 under a variety of conditions. Under iron-deficient conditions, mutants with overexpression of AmpC β-lactamase predominated. These mutants were cross-resistant to aztreonam and ceftazidime. Similar mutants were obtained after selection at >16× the MIC in iron-sufficient conditions. At 4× to 8× the MIC, mutants with elevated MIC for BAL30072 but unchanged MICs for aztreonam or ciprofloxacin were selected. The expression ofampCand the major efflux pump genes were also unchanged. These BAL30072-specific mutants were characterized by transcriptome analysis, which revealed upregulation of the Fe-dicitrate operon, FecIRA. Whole-genome sequencing showed that this resulted from a single nucleotide change in the Fur-box of thefecIpromoter. Overexpression of either the FecI ECF sigma factor or the FecA receptor increased BAL30072 MICs 8- to 16-fold. AfecImutant and afecAmutant of PAO1 were hypersusceptible to BAL30072 (MICs < 0.06 μg/ml). The most downregulated gene belonged to the pyochelin synthesis operon, although mutants in pyochelin receptor or synthesis genes had unchanged MICs. ThepiuCgene, coding for a Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenase located next to thepiuAiron receptor gene, was also downregulated. The MICs of BAL30072 forpiuCandpiuAtransposon mutants were increased 8- and 16-fold, respectively. We conclude that the upregulation of the Fe-dicitrate system impacts the expression of other TonB-dependent iron transporters and that PiuA and PiuC contribute to the susceptibility ofP. aeruginosaPAO1 to BAL30072.