Novel configurations of type I-E CRISPR-Cas system in Corynebacterium striatum clinical isolates

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are a prokaryotic adaptive immune system that, through Cas proteins, promote the degradation of foreign nucleic acids such as phages and plasmids.

We analyzed 10 genomes of Corynebacterium striatum clinical isolates from a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the most emergent multidrug-resistant Corynebacterium species.

All isolates were submitted to antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

The occurrence and diversity of the CRISPR system were investigated by bioinformatics tools.

Our analysis revealed that the isolates exhibited type I-E gene arrangements, and 3 more multidrug-resistant isolates, alternative type I-E gene arrangements, showing a divergent gene arrangement within the cas operon.

Phylogenetic analysis of the cas1 gene of this type I-E CRISPR-Cas system alternative arrangement, termed here type I-E’, showed a cluster in a distinct clade of the type I-E CRISPR-Cas system.

The systems’ guanine-cytosine (GC) content is lower than the genomic DNA’s GC content, and mobile genetic elements were found in some isolates near the CRISPR-Cas system.

Most CRISPR spacers are unknown indicating that there is a reservoir of unexplored corynebacteriophages and plasmids.

Some spacers showed perfect homologies with phage and plasmid sequences.

Intact phage regions were found in 3 of our isolates, ranging from 9.1 to 43.8 kb, with regions showing similarity to Rhodococcus and Corynebacterium phages.

Our results may contribute to research about the CRISPR-Cas system diversity in C. striatum , where there are no published data to date.