Rapid Identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa International High-Risk Clones Based on High-Resolution Melting Analysis

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa population has a nonclonal epidemic structure. It is generally composed of a limited number of widespread clones selected from a background of many rare and unrelated genotypes recombining at high frequency. Due to the increasing prevalence of nosocomial infections caused by multidrug-resistant/extensively drug-resistant (MDR/XDR) strains, it is advisable to implement infection control measures. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) are considered the gold standard methods in bacterial typing, despite being limited by cost, staff, and instrumental demands. Here, we present a novel mini-MLST scheme for P. aeruginosa rapid genotyping based on high-resolution melting analysis. Using the proposed mini-MLST scheme, 3,955 existing sequence types (STs) were converted into 701 melting types (MelTs), resulting in a discriminatory power of D = 0.993 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.992 to 0.994). Whole-genome sequencing of 18 clinical isolates was performed to support the newly designed mini-MLST scheme. The clonal analysis of STs belonging to MelTs associated with international high-risk clones (HRCs) performed by goeBURST software revealed that a high proportion of the included STs are highly related to HRCs and have also been witnessed as responsible for serious infections. Therefore, mini-MLST provides a clear warning for the potential spread of P. aeruginosa clones recognized as MDR/XDR strains with possible serious outcomes. IMPORTANCE In this study, we designed a novel mini-MLST typing scheme for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Its great discriminatory power, together with ease of performance and short processing time, makes this approach attractive for prospective typing of large isolate sets. Integrating the novel P. aeruginosa molecular typing scheme enables the development and spread of MDR/XDR high-risk clones to be investigated.