Comparison of the outer membrane proteomes between clinical carbapenem-resistant and -susceptible Acinetobacter baumannii.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Carbapenem resistance has become a major obstacle in combating Acinetobacter baumannii infections. Although enzymatic degradation by ß-lactamases is the pivotal mechanism of carbapenem resistance, porin deficiency has also been implicated in the mechanism. In this study, outer membrane proteins (OMPs) pattern of a clinical multidrug-resistant A. baumannii isolate were analysed in order to attain a deeper understanding of carbapenem-resistance strategies. METHODS: OMPs extracts, respectively, separated from carbapenem-resistant and -susceptible clinical A. baumannii isolates were compared using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Differentially expressed proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF). RESULTS: Twenty-three differently expressed proteins were identified between the resistant and susceptible isolates. Among them, six were annotated convincingly as OMPs in UniProt database. CarO was found absent from the resistant isolate and the expression levels of Omp33-36 and Omp25 were significantly lower than that in the susceptible counterpart. Strikingly, a LysM domain/BON superfamily protein, which has been linked to carbapenem resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae, was found underexpressed by tenfold in the resistant isolate. CONCLUSION: Our study verified some porins which have been proven to play an important role in bacterial resistance against carbapenems. Underexpression of the LysM domain/BON superfamily protein may indicate its possible engagement in bacterial drug resistance, but its actual role requires more investigation.