A Novel Family of Acinetobacter Mega-Plasmids Are Disseminating Multi-Drug Resistance Across the Globe While Acquiring Location-Specific Accessory Genes

Abstract

Acinetobacter species are emerging as major nosocomial pathogens, aided by their ability to acquire resistance to all classes of antibiotics. A key factor leading to their multi-drug resistance phenotypes is the acquisition of a wide variety of mobile genetic elements, particularly large conjugative plasmids. Here, we characterize a family of 21 multi-drug resistance mega-plasmids in 11 different Acinetobacter species isolated from various locations across the globe. The plasmid family exhibits a highly dynamic and diverse accessory genome, including 221 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that confer resistance to 13 classes of antibiotics. We show that plasmids isolated within the same geographic region are often evolutionarily divergent members of this family based on their core-genome, yet they exhibit a more similar accessory genome. Individual plasmids, therefore, can disseminate to different locations around the globe, where they then appear to acquire diverse sets of accessory genes from their local surroundings. Further, we show that plasmids from several geographic regions were enriched with location-specific functional traits. Together, our findings show that these mega-plasmids can transmit across species boundaries, have the capacity for global dissemination, can accumulate a diverse suite of location-specific accessory genes, and can confer multi-drug resistance phenotypes of significant concern for human health. We therefore highlight this previously undescribed plasmid family as a serious threat to healthcare systems worldwide. These findings also add to the growing concern that mega-plasmids are key disseminators of antibiotic resistance and require global surveillance.