Characterization of the chromosomal aac(6')-Ij gene of Acinetobacter sp. 13 and the aac(6')-Ih plasmid gene of Acinetobacter baumannii.

The amikacin resistance genes aac(6')-Ih of Acinetobacter baumannii BM2686 and aac(6')-Ij of Acinetobacter sp. 13 BM2689 encoding aminoglycoside 6'-N-acetyltransferases were characterized. The 441-bp coding sequences predict proteins with calculated masses of 16,698 and 16,677 Da, respectively. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences indicated that the proteins belonged to a subfamily of 6'-aminoglycoside acetyltransferase type I enzymes from gram-negative bacteria. The aac(6')-Ih gene of BM2686 was located on a 13.7-kb nonconjugative plasmid. The aac(6')-Ij gene from BM2689 was not transferable either by conjugation to Escherichia coli or A. baumannii or by transformation to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Plasmid DNA from BM2689 did not hybridize with an intragenic aac(6')-Ij probe. These results suggest a chromosomal location for this gene. The aac(6')-Ij gene was detected by DNA hybridization in all 28 strains of Acinetobacter sp. 13 tested but not in other Acinetobacter strains, including A. baumannii, proteolytic genospecies 4, 6, 14, 15, 16, and 17, and ungrouped strains. The aac(6')-Ih and -Ij probes did not hybridize in dot blot assays with DNA from members of the families Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonadaceae that produced 6'-N-acetyltransferases. These data suggest that the genes are confined to the Acinetobacter genus and that the aac(6')-Ij gene is species specific and may be used to identify Acinetobacter sp. 13.