Mutation-driven evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the presence of either ceftazidime or ceftazidime/avibactam

ABSTRACT Ceftazidime/avibactam is a combination of beta-lactam/beta-lactamases inhibitor, which use is restricted to some clinical cases including cystic fibrosis patients infected with multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa , in which mutation is the main driver of resistance. This study aims to predict the mechanisms of mutation-driven resistance that are selected for when P. aeruginosa is challenged with either ceftazidime or ceftazidime/avibactam. For this purpose, P. aeruginosa PA14 was submitted to experimental evolution in the absence of antibiotics and in the presence of increasing concentrations of ceftazidime or ceftazidime/avibactam for 30 consecutive days. Final populations were analysed by whole-genome sequencing. All evolved populations reached similar levels of ceftazidime resistance. Besides, all of them were more susceptible to amikacin and produced pyomelanin. A first event in the evolution was the selection of large chromosomal deletions containing hmgA (involved in pyomelanin production), galU (involved in β-lactams resistance) and mexXY-oprM (involved in aminoglycoside resistance). Besides mutations in mpl and dacB that regulate β-lactamase expression, mutations related to MexAB-OprM overexpression were prevalent. Ceftazidime/avibactam challenge selected mutants in the putative efflux pump PA14_45890-45910 and in a two-component system (PA14_45870-45880) , likely regulating its expression. All populations produce pyomelanin and were more susceptible to aminoglycosides likely due to the selection of large chromosomal deletions. Since pyomelanin-producing mutants, presenting similar deletions are regularly isolated from infections, the potential aminoglycosides hyper-susceptiblity and reduced β-lactams susceptibility of pyomelanin-producing P. aeruginosa should be taken into consideration for treating infections by these isolates.