{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T18:45:06Z","timestamp":1788201906693,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,17]],"date-time":"2022-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1660694400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Fondazione per la Ricerca sulla Fibrosi Cistica","award":["FFC#18\/2019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FFC#18\/2019"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Achromobacter spp. can establish occasional or chronic lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Chronic colonization has been associated with worse prognosis highlighting the need to identify markers of bacterial persistence. To this purpose, we analyzed phenotypic features of 95 Achromobacter spp. isolates from 38 patients presenting chronic or occasional infection. Virulence was tested in Galleria mellonella larvae, cytotoxicity was tested in human bronchial epithelial cells, biofilm production in static conditions was measured by crystal violet staining and susceptibility to selected antibiotics was tested by the disk diffusion method. The presence of genetic loci associated to the analyzed phenotypic features was evaluated by a genome-wide association study. Isolates from occasional infection induced significantly higher mortality of G. mellonella larvae and showed a trend for lower cytotoxicity than chronic infection isolates. No significant difference was observed in biofilm production among the two groups. Additionally, antibiotic susceptibility testing showed that isolates from chronically-infected patients were significantly more resistant to sulfonamides and meropenem than occasional isolates. Candidate genetic biomarkers associated with antibiotic resistance or sensitivity were identified. Achromobacter spp. strains isolated from people with chronic and occasional lung infection exhibit different virulence and antibiotic susceptibility features, which could be linked to persistence in CF lungs. This underlines the possibility of identifying predictive biomarkers of persistence that could be useful for clinical purposes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23169265","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,17]],"date-time":"2022-08-17T21:23:56Z","timestamp":1660771436000},"page":"9265","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Achromobacter spp. Adaptation in Cystic Fibrosis Infection and Candidate Biomarkers of Antimicrobial Resistance"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5107-0960","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Angela","family":"Sandri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0413-6031","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura","family":"Veschetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giulia Maria","family":"Saitta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rebeca","family":"Passarelli Mantovani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Carelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"},{"name":"School of Health Statistics and Biometrics, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gloria","family":"Burlacchini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara","family":"Preato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2739-4014","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claudio","family":"Sorio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5276-1595","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paola","family":"Melotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cystic Fibrosis Center, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona, Piazzale Stefani 1, 37126 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9618-0007","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna Lisa","family":"Montemari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cystic Fibrosis Diagnostics Special Operational Unit, Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology Unit, Bambino Ges\u00f9 Children\u2019s Hospital IRCCS, Piazza S. Onofrio 4, 00165 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4156-1835","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ersilia V.","family":"Fiscarelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cystic Fibrosis Diagnostics Special Operational Unit, Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology Unit, Bambino Ges\u00f9 Children\u2019s Hospital IRCCS, Piazza S. Onofrio 4, 00165 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8678-9337","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cristina","family":"Patuzzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caterina","family":"Signoretto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marzia","family":"Boaretti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria M.","family":"Lle\u00f2","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnostics and Public Health, Microbiology Section, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8705-8560","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giovanni","family":"Malerba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Strada Le Grazie 8, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e5097","DOI":"10.1590\/1414-431X20155097","article-title":"Clinical impact of Achromobacter xylosoxidans colonization\/infection in patients with cystic fibrosis","volume":"49","author":"Firmida","year":"2016","journal-title":"Braz. 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