Genotypic Characterization of Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from Human and Sheep in Al-Qadisiyah Province, Iraq

Abstract

The current study was performed to identify the genotypes related to Klebsiella pneumonia isolated from urinary tract infection (UTI) of humans and pneumonia (PMN) of sheep in Al-Qadisiyah province, Iraq. 140 samples of (80 UTI and 60 post-mortems identified PMN) were collected and processed using traditional and molecular techniques. Following isolation of the microorganism, pure colonies were introduced into steps of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirming method that targeted the 16S rRNA and the virulence-related capsular (magA and k2A) genes and partial gene sequencing (PGS) which focused on the 16S rRNA gene only. Primary results of the traditional techniques (TTs) highly revealed the presence of K. pneumonia in 11 (13.75%) and 18 (30%) of the UTI and the PMN samples, respectively. However, rest samples showed the presence of different bacteria with no bacterial growth in others. This was confirmed by PCR results that strongly uncovered the identity of the K. pneumoniae in the positive samples. Using specific primers for Maga and k2A genes, PCR results revealed full percentage based presence of the k2A gene in the UTI and the PMN samples with less, 3/7 (43%) and 4 (100%) in the UTI and the PMN samples, respectively, presence of the magic gene. Moreover, PGS findings confirmed the accuracy of the TT and the PCR results plus recognized specific local strain identities that differently aligned with some of the worlds isolates on a phylogenetic tree. Current findings provide valuable information about virulence status of the K. pneumoniae isolates. in Al-Qadisiyah province, Iraq.