707. Clarifying the Role of CrrB in Polymxyin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Clinical Isolates Utilizing a Novel CRISPR-Cas9 System

BACKGROUND: Polymyxin resistance (PR) threatens the mainstay of therapy for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections. While mgrB disruption accounts for most cases of PR, missense mutations in crrB have been proposed as an alternative pathway for PR through PmrA/B/C upregulation of the pmrHFIJKLM operon. It remains unknown if CrrB acts as a positive or negative regulator on its downstream targets. METHODS: We assembled a CRISPR-Cas9 system for gene knockouts (KO) in CRE K. pneumoniae (CRKP) using zeocin as a selectable marker. We chose a polymyxin susceptible (PS) and a PR isolate with a missense mutation in crrB (L87V) (NR5337 and NR5083, respectively) for KO. Isolates were transformed with a crrB KO plasmid, grown with zeocin selection, induced with arabinose, and plated on low-salt LB-zeocin/arabinose. KOs were confirmed via PCR and Sanger sequencing. Polymyxin susceptibility was performed with broth-microdilution. Gene expression was determined by qRT-PCR of cDNA extracts. RESULTS: Colistin MIC following crrB KO of NR5337 (PS) remained unchanged. In contrast, crrB KO of NR5083 (PR), decreased polymyxin MIC (MIC >128 to 1.0 μg/mL). qRT-PCR of NR5083 did not show increased expression of pmrA/C, nor pmrK. NR5083 ^crrB showed a small decrease in phoQ expression, compared with NR5083, but similar expression of phoP, pmrA/C and pmrK (Table 1). CONCLUSION: Polymyxin MIC decreased >128 fold after crrB KO in a PR isolate, but colistin MIC remained unchanged after KO in a PS isolate. CrrB mutations in PR isolates may confer a gain of function with CrrB acting as a positive regulator on its downstream targets. Contrary to previous literature, no upregulation of pmrA/C and pmrHFIJKLM was detected. Differences in crrB mutations or clonal background may explain this finding. CRISPR-Cas9 may serve as a reliable system for genetic manipulation of CRKP. Further data on the impact of individual crrB missense mutations are needed. DISCLOSURES: A. C. Uhlemann, Merck: Investigator, Grant recipient.