Molecular Identification of Pathogenic Klebsiella Pneumoniae Strains Producing Biofilm

Authors

16S rRNA, sequences, PCR, Strains, Biofilm, health; pathogen.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen causing nosocomial infections with production of

biofilm. In the current study, 73 samples were collected from both patient genders of different ages suffering

of burn and wound injuries that referred to four hospitals in Baghdad city from Aug. to Nov. 2019. The

samples were cultured on MacConkey agar and 60 bacterial isolates were obtained. Primary identification

by cultural and microscopic examinations declared that all isolates belong to genus Klebsiella. Then the 60

isolates were identified by Vitek 2 system which insured they were belonged to Klebsiella pneumoniae. The

identified isolates were screened for ability to produce biofilm by Microtiter Plate technique and Congo red

agar method. Results showed that only 4 isolates (3 of wounds and 1of burns) were able to form biofilms.

Upon such important characteristic, the four isolates were submitted to the 16S rRNA gene amplification test

by using PCR technique and results declared that they are certainly belong to Klebsiella pneumoniae. The

“National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)” verified and documented that they are new strains

of Klebsiella pneumoniae to be discovered in this study for the first time and registered them as; KPWIQ25,

KPWIQ49, KPWIQ51 and KPBIQ19 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae.

1 Post graduate, Dept. of Quality Control, Grain Board of Iraq, Ministry of Trade, Baghdad, Iraq, 2Asst. Prof. ,

Dept. of Med. and Mol. Biotech., Coll. of Biotech., Al-Nahrain University Baghdad, Iraq, 3 Prof. Dr., Dept. of Med.

and Mol. Biotech., Coll. of Biotech., Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq, 4 Prof. Dr Dept. of Biology, Al- Farabi

University College, Baghdad, Iraq