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Method Article
* These authors contributed equally
This study implemented whole genome sequencing for analysis of mutations in genes conferring antifungal drug resistance in Candida glabrata. C. glabrata isolates resistant to echinocandins, azoles and 5-flucytosine, were sequenced to illustrate the methodology. Susceptibility profiles of the isolates correlated with presence or absence of specific mutation patterns in genes.
Candida glabrata can rapidly acquire mutations that result in drug resistance, especially to azoles and echinocandins. Identification of genetic mutations is essential, as resistance detected in vitro can often be correlated with clinical failure. We examined the feasibility of using whole genome sequencing (WGS) for genome-wide analysis of antifungal drug resistance in C. glabrata. The aim was torecognize enablers and barriers in the implementation WGS and measure its effectiveness. This paper outlines the key quality control checkpoints and essential components of WGS methodology to investigate genetic markers associated with reduced susceptibility to antifungal agents. It also estimates the accuracy of data analysis and turn-around-time of testing.
Phenotypic susceptibility of 12 clinical, and one ATCC strain of C. glabrata was determined through antifungal susceptibility testing. These included three isolate pairs, from three patients, that developed rise in drug minimum inhibitory concentrations. In two pairs, the second isolate of each pair developed resistance to echinocandins. The second isolate of the third pair developed resistance to 5-flucytosine. The remaining comprised of susceptible and azole resistant isolates. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes linked to echinocandin, azole and 5-flucytosine resistance were confirmed in resistant isolates through WGS using the next generation sequencing. Non-synonymous SNPs in antifungal resistance genes such as FKS1, FKS2, CgPDR1, CgCDR1 and FCY2 were identified. Overall, an average of 98% of the WGS reads of C. glabrata isolates mapped to the reference genome with about 75-fold read depth coverage. The turnaround time and cost were comparable to Sanger sequencing.
In conclusion, WGS of C. glabrata was feasible in revealing clinically significant gene mutations involved in resistance to different antifungal drug classes without the need for multiple PCR/DNA sequencing reactions. This represents a positive step towards establishing WGS capability in the clinical laboratory for simultaneous detection of antifungal resistance conferring substitutions.
Candida glabrata is an increasingly encountered pathogen with importance as a species that exhibits resistance to the azoles as well as more recently, to the echinocandins1,2,3. Unlike the diploid C. albicans, the haploid genome of C. glabrata may allow it to acquire mutations and develop multi-drug resistance more easily. Co-resistance to both drug classes has also been reported4. Hence, early evaluation of antifungal susceptibility and detection of drug resistance in C. glabrata is crucial for correct, targeted therapy as well as in the context of antifungal stewardship to limit drivers of antimicrobial resistance1,5,6. Establishing an efficient workflow to rapidly detect the presence of confirmatory mutations linked to resistance biomarkers in resistant isolates will also help to improve prescribing decisions and clinical outcomes.
Antifungal susceptibility is usually assessed by measuring minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) which is defined as the lowest drug concentration that results in a significant reduction in growth of a microorganism compared with that of a drug-free growth control. The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) have standardized susceptibility testing methods in order to make MIC determination more accurate and consistent7,8. However, the utility of antifungal MIC remains limited especially for the echinocandins, in particular with regards to inter-laboratory comparisons where varying methodologies and conditions are used9. There is also uncertain correlation of MICs with response to echinocandin treatment and inability to distinguish WT (or susceptible) isolates from those harboring FKS mutations (echinocandin-resistant strains)10,11. Despite the availability of confirmatory single-gene PCRs and Sanger sequencing of antifungal resistance markers, realization of results is often delayed due to lack of simultaneous detection of multiple resistance markers5,12. Hence, concurrent detection of resistance-conferring mutations in different locations in the genome, enabled by whole genome sequencing-based analysis, offers significant advantages over current approaches.
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been successfully implemented to track disease transmission during outbreaks as well as an approach for genome-wide risk assessment and drug resistance testing in bacteria and viruses13. Recent advances in nucleic acid sequencing technology have made the whole genome sequencing (WGS) of pathogens in a clinically actionable turn-around-time both technically and economically feasible. DNA sequencing offers important advantages over other methods of pathogen identification and characterization employed in microbiology laboratories14,15,16. First, it provides a universal solution with high throughput, speed and quality. Sequencing can be applied to any of microorganisms and allows economies of scale at local or regional laboratories. Second, it produces data in a 'future-proof' format amenable to comparison at national and international levels. Finally, the potential utility of WGS in medicine has been augmented by the rapid growth of public data bases containing reference genomes, which can be linked to equivalent data bases that contain additional clinical and epidemiological metadata17,18.
Recent studies have demonstrated the utility of WGS for identification of antifungal resistance markers from clinical isolates of Candida spp.10,19,20. This is mostly due to the availability of high-throughput benchtop sequencers, established bioinformatics pipelines and decreasing cost of sequencing21,22. The advantage of fungal WGS over Sanger sequencing is that WGS allows sequencing of multiple genomes on a single run. In addition, WGS of Candida genomes can identify novel mutations in drug targets, track genetic evolution, and emergence of clinically relevant sequence-types20,22,23. Most importantly, in cases of intrinsic multidrug resistance, WGS can assist in early detection of resistance-conferring mutations prior to treatment selection22,24.
Here, we examined the feasibility of WGS-enabled screening for mutations associated with drug resistance to different classes of antifungal agents. We present a methodology for the implementation of WGS from end-user and diagnostic mycology laboratory perspectives. We included in this analysis three isolate pairs cultured from three separate clinical cases in which in vitro resistance to the echinocandins and 5-flucytosine developed over time following antifungal treatment.
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No ethical approval was required for this study.
1. Subculture and inoculum preparation for Candida glabrata
2. Determination of Antifungal Susceptibility
3. Genomic DNA extraction for sequencing
4. Genomic DNA quantification
5. DNA Library Preparation
Note: Library preparation and sequencing was performed following manufacturer's protocols and guidelines provided by company (Figure 1A) (see Table of Materials).
6. Library pooling and Initiating Sequencing in Benchtop Sequencer
7. Data Download from Sequencing Website
8. Sequencing Data analysis
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Thirteen C. glabrata comprising C. glabrata ATCC 90030 and 12 isolates from the Clinical Mycology Reference laboratory (isolates CMRL1 to CMRL12), Westmead Hospital, Sydney were studied (Table 1). These included three pairs of isolates CMRL-1/CMRL-2, CMRL-3/CMRL-4 and CMRL-5/CMRL-6 obtained before and after antifungal therapy with no epidemiological links between them 24 (Table 1).
The M...
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This study determined feasibility, approximate timelines and precision of WGS-guided detection of drug resistance in C. glabrata. The turnaround time (TAT) for the library preparation and sequencing was four days and reporting of analyzed results one-two days. This compares with at least a similar amount TAT for susceptibility assays from culture plates and Sanger sequencing with significantly higher number of samples. Around 30-90 C. glabrata genomes can be sequenced based on sequencing fl...
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The authors have no competing financial interests and no conflict of interest to disclose.
This work was supported by the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Public Health. The authors have not received any other funding for this study. The authors thank Drs Alicia Arnott, Nathan Bachmann and Ranjeeta Menon for their expert advice and assistance with the whole genome sequencing experiment.
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Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
DensiCHECK Plus | BioMérieux Inc | K083536 | Densitometer used for McFarland readings |
Sensititre YeastOne | TREK Diagnostic Systems, Thermo Scientific | YO10 | Commercial susceptibility assay plate with standard antifungal drugs. |
Fisherbrand Disposable Inoculating Loops and Needles | Fisher Scientific, Thermo Fisher Scientific | 22-363-605 | Disposable plastic loops can be used directly from package. No flaming required. |
Eppendorf Safe-Lock microcentrifuge tubes | Sigma Aldrich, Merck | T2795 | Volume 2.0 mL, natural |
ZYMOLYASE 20T from Arthrobacter luteus | MP Biomedicals, LLC | 8320921 | Used for cell wall lysis of fungal isolate before DNA extraction |
Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit | Promega | A1120 | Does 100 DNA extractions |
Quant-iT PicoGreen dsDNA Assay Kit | Thermo Fisher Scientific | P7589 | Picogreen reagent referred to as fluorescent dye in the protocol. Includes Lambda DNA standard and picogreen reagent for assay. |
Nextera XT DNA Sample Preparation Kit | Illumina | FC-131-1096 | Includes Box 1 and Box 2 reagents for 96 samples |
Nextera XT Index Kit v2 | Illumina | FC-131-2001, FC-131-2002, FC-131-2003, FC-131-2004 | Index set A Index set B Index set C Index set D |
NextSeq 500/550 High Output Kit v2 | Illumina | FC-404-2004 | 300 cycles, More than 250 samples per kit |
NextSeq 500 Mid Output v2 Kit | Illumina | FC-404-2003 | 300 cycles, More than 130 samples per kit |
PhiX Control Kit | Illumina | FC-110-3001 | To arrange indices from Index kit in order |
TruSeq Index Plate Fixture Kit | FC-130-1005 | 2 Fixtures | |
KAPA Library Quantification Kit for Next-Generation Sequencing | KAPA Biosystems | KK4824 | Includes premade standards, primers and MasterMix |
Janus NGS Express Liquid handling system | PerkinElmer | YJS4NGS | Used for DNA dilutions during sequencing |
0.8 mL Storage Plate | Thermo Scientific | AB0765B | MIDI Plate for DNA Library cleanup and normalisation |
Agencourt AMPure XP | Beckman Coulter | A63881 | Magnetic beads in solution for library purification |
Magnetic Stand-96 | Thermo Fisher Scientific | AM10027 | Used for magnetic bead based DNA purification |
OrbiShaker MP | Benchmark Scientific | BT1502 | 96-well plate shaker with 4 platforms |
Hard Shell PCR Plate | BioRad | HSP9601 | Thin Wall, 96 Well |
LightCycler 480 Instrument II | Roche | 5015278001 | Accomodates 96 well plate |
Microseal 'B' PCR Plate Sealing Film, adhesive, optical | BioRad | MSB1001 | Clear 96-well plate sealers |
CLC Genomics Workbench | Qiagen | CLCBio | Software for data analysis, Version 8 |
NextSeq500 instrument | Illumina | Illumina | Benchtop Sequencer used for next generation sequencing |
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