Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a gram-negative, multidrug-resistant, opportunistic human pathogen responsible for hard-to-treat infections in immunocompromised individuals. Besides being recognized as an important clinical pathogen, S. maltophilia is also widespread in the natural environment, with...

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Main Authors: Laurita Klimkaitė, Radvilė Drevinskaitė, Karolis Krinickis, Edita Sužiedėlienė, Julija Armalytė
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Virulence
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21505594.2025.2498669
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author Laurita Klimkaitė
Radvilė Drevinskaitė
Karolis Krinickis
Edita Sužiedėlienė
Julija Armalytė
author_facet Laurita Klimkaitė
Radvilė Drevinskaitė
Karolis Krinickis
Edita Sužiedėlienė
Julija Armalytė
author_sort Laurita Klimkaitė
collection DOAJ
description Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a gram-negative, multidrug-resistant, opportunistic human pathogen responsible for hard-to-treat infections in immunocompromised individuals. Besides being recognized as an important clinical pathogen, S. maltophilia is also widespread in the natural environment, with knowledge of the pathogenic potential of the environmental S. maltophilia pool still lacking. In this study, we aimed to identify the differences in virulence-related traits between clinical and environmental S. maltophilia isolates by assessing their genotypic and phenotypic features. For this purpose, 40 S. maltophilia isolates from natural environment and 34 clinical isolates obtained from patients were analysed. We observed a high degree of genotypic diversity among the isolates irrespective of their origin. Although antibiotic resistance- and virulence-related genes were more prevalent in the clinical isolates, the majority of the analysed genes were also present in the environmental isolates. Most importantly, the phenotypic features, specifically the ability to form biofilms and display twitching motility at human body temperature were predominantly characteristic to the clinical isolates. Our study indicates that adaptation to endure human body temperature is a feature strongly linked to S. maltophilia strains of clinical origin, and is significant when differentiating harmless environmental bacteria from pathogenic S. maltophilia isolates.
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series Virulence
spelling doaj-art-2b622abd01f04ffc8f063b40782b9d752025-08-20T02:28:20ZengTaylor & Francis GroupVirulence2150-55942150-56082025-12-0116110.1080/21505594.2025.2498669Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolatesLaurita Klimkaitė0Radvilė Drevinskaitė1Karolis Krinickis2Edita Sužiedėlienė3Julija Armalytė4Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LithuaniaInstitute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LithuaniaInstitute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LithuaniaInstitute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LithuaniaInstitute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, LithuaniaStenotrophomonas maltophilia is a gram-negative, multidrug-resistant, opportunistic human pathogen responsible for hard-to-treat infections in immunocompromised individuals. Besides being recognized as an important clinical pathogen, S. maltophilia is also widespread in the natural environment, with knowledge of the pathogenic potential of the environmental S. maltophilia pool still lacking. In this study, we aimed to identify the differences in virulence-related traits between clinical and environmental S. maltophilia isolates by assessing their genotypic and phenotypic features. For this purpose, 40 S. maltophilia isolates from natural environment and 34 clinical isolates obtained from patients were analysed. We observed a high degree of genotypic diversity among the isolates irrespective of their origin. Although antibiotic resistance- and virulence-related genes were more prevalent in the clinical isolates, the majority of the analysed genes were also present in the environmental isolates. Most importantly, the phenotypic features, specifically the ability to form biofilms and display twitching motility at human body temperature were predominantly characteristic to the clinical isolates. Our study indicates that adaptation to endure human body temperature is a feature strongly linked to S. maltophilia strains of clinical origin, and is significant when differentiating harmless environmental bacteria from pathogenic S. maltophilia isolates.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21505594.2025.2498669Stenotrophomonas maltophiliaopportunistic pathogengenotypingvirulence-related traitsantibiotic resistancehost body temperature
spellingShingle Laurita Klimkaitė
Radvilė Drevinskaitė
Karolis Krinickis
Edita Sužiedėlienė
Julija Armalytė
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
Virulence
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
opportunistic pathogen
genotyping
virulence-related traits
antibiotic resistance
host body temperature
title Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
title_full Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
title_fullStr Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
title_full_unstemmed Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
title_short Stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
title_sort stenotrophomonas maltophilia of clinical origin display higher temperature tolerance comparing with environmental isolates
topic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
opportunistic pathogen
genotyping
virulence-related traits
antibiotic resistance
host body temperature
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/21505594.2025.2498669
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