Use of Comparative Genomics To Resolve an Unusual Case of Aminoglycoside Susceptibility in the Melioidosis Pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei in Bangladesh

Mirjam Kaestli Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia;

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Saika Farook Department of Microbiology, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Md. Shariful Alam Jilani Department of Microbiology, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Shaheda Anwar Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Mark Mayo Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia;

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Yuwana Podin Institute of Health and Community Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia;

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Jessica R. Webb Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia;
Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;

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David A. B. Dance Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital—Wellcome Trust Unit, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic;
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom;

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Bart J. Currie Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia;
Infectious Diseases Department, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

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ABSTRACT.

Melioidosis is an emerging tropical infectious disease with a rising global burden caused by the environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. It is endemic in Southeast and South Asia, including Bangladesh. A rare aminoglycoside-susceptible B. pseudomallei isolate (Y2019) has recently been reported from a melioidosis patient in Dhaka, Bangladesh. To understand the geographical origins of Y2019, we subjected it and 10 other isolates from Bangladesh to whole-genome sequencing. In a phylogenetic tree with a global set of B. pseudomallei genomes, most Bangladeshi genomes clustered tightly within the Asian clade. In contrast, Y2019 was closely related to ST881 isolates from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, a gentamicin-sensitive sequence type, suggesting infection in Borneo. Y2019 also contained the same gentamicin sensitivity conferring nonsynonymous mutation in the drug efflux pump encoding the amrB gene. In the absence of a full travel history, whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics tools have revealed the likely origin of this rare isolate.

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Author Notes

Current contact information: Mirjam Kaestli and Mark Mayo, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, E-mails: mirjam.kaestli@menzies.edu.au and mark.mayo@menzies.edu.au. Saika Farook and Md. Shariful Alam Jilani, Department of Microbiology, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh, E-mails: sairana15@yahoo.com and jilanimsa@gmail.com. Shaheda Anwar and Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, E-mails: shahedaanwar17@gmail.com and shaon_mbo@yahoo.com. Yuwana Podin, Institute of Health and Community Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia, E-mail: pyuwana@unimas.my. Jessica R. Webb, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, E-mail: jessica.webb@unimelb.edu.au. David A. B. Dance, Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital—Wellcome Trust Unit, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom, E-mail: David.d@tropmedres.ac. Bart J. Currie, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia and Infectious Diseases Department, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, E-mail: bart.currie@menzies.edu.au.

Address correspondence to Bart J. Currie, Menzies School of Health Research, P. O. Box 41096, Casuarina NT 0811, Australia. E-mail: bart.currie@menzies.edu.au
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