a Genitourinary Infections Reference Laboratory, Public Health Laboratory, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol BS2 8HW; b Public Health Laboratory, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol BS2 8HW, UK
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Abstract |
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Introduction |
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Other plasmids have been reported, including the Nimes plasmid (4.0 MDa),12 the New Zealand plasmid (6.0 MDa)13 and a single isolate carrying an unnamed variant (3.9 MDa) isolated in the Phillipines,14 but global dissemination of these plasmids has not followed their emergence as yet.
Analysis of the plasmids provides useful epidemiological data, but involves laborious plasmid purification, typically by the alkaline lysis method. We have developed a rapid, simple polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method to differentiate between the ß-lactamase-producing plasmids occurring commonly in N. gonorrhoeae.
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Materials and methods |
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One hundred and fifty three isolates of N. gonorrhoeae referred to the Genitourinary Infections Reference Laboratory (GUIRL) or from clinical specimens submitted to the laboratory by primary care physicians in Bristol were used in this study. These comprised 123 PPNG, including 10 local isolates, 28 non-penicillinase-producing tetracycline-resistant N. gonorrhoeae (TRNG), including two local isolates, and two referred isolates which were non-PPNG, non-TRNG. Also, five strains held in the culture collection of the GUIRL were used as controls and included in each batch of isolates analysed. The control strains were SB5 (containing the Asian, the cryptic and the conjugative plasmids), GR4103 (containing the African, cryptic and conjugative plasmids), GR12894 (containing the 3.0 MDa, cryptic and conjugative plasmids), TR01 (containing the tetracycline resistance and cryptic plasmids; kindly provided by Dr C. A. Ison) and the World Health Organization control strain B (containing the cryptic plasmid). The control strains were also used to determine the sensitivity of the PCR.
Isolates of N. gonorrhoeae were grown on heated blood agar plates incubated at 37°C with 5% CO2 overnight. ß-Lactamase activity was determined by the method of Hodge et al.,15 using the Oxford strain of Staphylococcus aureus (NCTC 6571). Those gonococcal strains with satellite growth of S. aureus on a heated blood agar plate containing 1 mg/L ampicillin were considered to be PPNG and were selected for further analysis by both plasmid isolation and PCR methods. Isolates that demonstrated resistance to tetracycline by disc diffusion (10 µg disc) were also included in the plasmid analysis.
Plasmid DNA preparation and electrophoresis
The overnight growth of N. gonorrhoeae from one or two heated blood agar plates (containing 1 mg/L ampicillin for PPNG strains) was harvested and the plasmid DNA extracted by an alkaline lysis method.16 The purified plasmid DNA (18 µL) was analysed by gel electrophoresis with a 1% agarose gel, stained with ethidium bromide (10 mg/L) and visualized using UV transillumination.
Preparation of DNA for PCR
A 1 µL loopful of bacteria was suspended in 150 µL 5% Chelex-100 resin (Bio-Rad, Hemel Hempstead, UK) slurry in distilled water. Samples were heated (95°C for 10 min), centrifuged (2 min at 13 000g) and 5 µL of the supernatant used for PCR either immediately or after storage at 20°C.
PCR
Primers were designed using representative sequences of the African, Asian, Toronto and Rio plasmids that have been deposited in GenBank (accession numbers U20374, U20375, U20419 and U55934). Primers were positioned either side of the published deletion sites, avoiding regions of repeated sequence and the TEM-1 gene. Details of the plasmids, primers and predicted product sizes are summarized in Tables I and II.
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To confirm the identity of the PCR products, those from the control strains GR4103, SB5 and GR12894 were fully sequenced in both directions (additional primers were required to sequence the products of GR4103 and SB5; see Table I). In addition, all PCR products were digested with an appropriate restriction enzyme (AluI for the products of Asian and African plasmids and HaeIII for the product of the 3.0 MDa plasmid) by standard methods. Digested products were analysed by gel electrophoresis with a 1.2% agarose gel.
Assessment of sensitivity of the PCR
Preparations of whole cell DNA and purified plasmid DNA were made from the SB5, GR4103 and GR12894 control strains carrying the Asian, African and 3.0 MDa plasmids, respectively. Whole cell DNA was prepared as previously described17 and plasmid DNA was prepared as described above except that 10 mg/L RNase was added during the lysis procedure. DNA preparations were quantified spectrophotometrically at 260 nm using GeneQuant (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Ltd, Amersham, UK). In addition, suspensions of whole bacteria from each of the control strains were made in water to an OD540 = 1.0 (approximately 108 cfu/mL). Serial dilutions of each DNA and bacterial suspension were made and PCR carried out to assess the sensitivity of the assay.
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Results |
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With the standardized PCR conditions, analysis of 123 PPNG strains from widely different geographical origins identified 60 African, 16 Asian and 47 3.0 MDa plasmids (Table III). The identity of all PCR products was confirmed by restriction digestion. These data showed complete agreement with the conventional plasmid analysis. All 30 non-PPNG strains tested were negative by PCR.
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Discussion |
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Amplicons of indistinguishable size were produced from all isolates bearing 3.0 MDa plasmids. Although 3.05 MDa (Toronto) and 2.9 MDa (Rio) ß-lactamase-encoding plasmids were described separately in 1984, these types were subsequently compared by restriction analysis and found to be indistinguishable.2 Furthermore, sequence data deposited in GenBank suggests that the site of deletion is the same in each (accession numbers U20419 and U55934), but different from that of the African plasmid. It is probable that only one 3.0 MDa plasmid type exists, but that simultaneous reporting of the emergence of this plasmid has resulted in two independent accounts by separate research groups, each assigning the plasmid a different name. The difference in epidemiological origin does not controvert this possibility, since international travel could easily account for the presence of related strains in widely different geographical areas. The strains containing the original Rio and Toronto plasmids were not available to the authors but the observation that all 47 isolates bearing the 3.0 MDa plasmid gave 650 bp PCR products is consistent with this conclusion.
The simplicity of the PCR method is an important feature if it is to be adopted for typing gonococcal plasmids on a routine basis. When compared with traditional plasmid purification, the PCR is technically undemanding, requires much less hands-on preparation time (30 min versus 2 h for 1020 samples), and very little sample material (a 1 µL loopful of bacteria versus the growth from one or two agar plates). In addition, for ease of use and quality assurance, PCR mixes can be made in large batches, aliquoted and stored frozen for several months with no observable difference in performance. For both plasmid purification and PCR, the analysis is dependent on subsequent agarose gel electrophoresis. However, the analysis of short linear amplicons is less exacting than that of large circular plasmids: the latter may assume various different conformations and interpretation of the data requires some skill. Analysis of tetracycline resistance plasmids is often performed concurrently and this may be achieved by PCR using one of the three published tetM PCR protocols.2022 We have found that the thermal cycle presented here, with the annealing temperature adjusted to 58°C, is suitable for both this assay and the tetM PCR recently published by Turner et al.22
This PCR is intended as a method for characterizing pure cultures of N. gonorrhoeae and for this purpose it is both sensitive and specific. In circumstances where non-culture diagnosis of N. gonorrhoeae is advantageous, non-culture-based typing methods for antibiotic resistance determination will also be valuable. We have shown that nanogram amounts of purified DNA and c. 100 bacteria can be detected, therefore this method would probably be sufficiently sensitive for this purpose. However, the specificity of the test would require further investigation. ß-Lactamase plasmids are occasionally found in strains of N. meningitidis23 and other closely related plasmid types occur in Haemophilus ducreyi, Haemophilus influenzae and Haemophilus parainfluenzae.24 The possibility that these plasmids might be detected has not been investigated.
In summary, this is the first reported multiplex PCR that differentiates between different gonococcal ß-lactamase-producing plasmids. It is simple and reproducible and offers a significant methodological advance for the epidemiological surveillance of PPNG. Further evaluation may also establish a role for the assay in enhancing nonculture investigation of gonococcal infection.
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Acknowledgments |
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Notes |
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References |
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Received 8 April 1999; returned 14 September 1999; revised 25 October 1999; accepted 16 January 2000