Spanish Research Team Uses Roche's GS FLX+ System to Sequence Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria in Recent Hospital Outbreak

BRANFORD, Connecticut and MADRID, March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

A team of researchers from the Hospital Universitario La Paz Research Institute (IdiPAZ, Madrid), LifeSequencing S.L. (Valencia), Era7 Bioinformatics (Madrid) and Roche Spain (Barcelona) announced today the sequencing of the whole genome of three antibiotic resistant strains of Klebsiella pneunomiae isolated from a recent outbreak in a Spanish hospital. The sequence data, generated using Roche's 454 GS FLX+ System, is some of the first for this particular bacterial species, providing new insights into how antibiotic resistance evolves within this microorganism and can lead to hospital outbreaks.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a bacterium frequently found in the mouth and gut of healthy humans. In most instances, it does not lead to disease but it can mutate opportunistically and cause diverse types of infections. The bacterium also has a significant capacity to acquire antibiotic resistance. Three closely related isolates of a pathogenic strain of K. pneumonia with increasing degrees of antibiotic resistance were obtained in the Microbiology department at Hospital Universitario La Paz and sequenced at LifeSequencing in Valencia, Spain using the long read GS FLX+ System, developed by 454 Life Sciences, a Roche Company. The sequencing data was assembled using the GS De Novo Assembler software and functional annotation was performed to identify the relevant genes codified in the three genomes with BG7, the optimized system developed by Era 7 Bioinformatics, providing rich functional annotation of 454 Sequencing data.

The researchers found that the three bacteria strains showed an increasing resistance pattern to a wide range of the antibiotics most commonly used at the hospital. Comparison of the genomes will give insights regarding how antibiotic resistance evolves within K. pneumonia and will aid in efforts to reduce the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance worldwide. In addition, the comparison of these genomes with other previously studied bacteria will help to understand how a microorganism that is part of our normal microbiome can become a dangerous pathogen.

"Fast and affordable sequencing of pathogenic bacteria is a huge qualitative and quantitative advance that is radically changing the way researchers and clinicians view the infectious disease process," said Dr. Jesús Mingorance lead researcher at the Hospital Universitario La Paz. The GS FLX+ and GS Junior Systems from Roche are aiding in these pathogen detection and bacterial comparative genomics efforts worldwide.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2011, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 42.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: http://www.roche.com.

About IdiPAZ

The IdiPAZ Institute for Health Research was created as a place for biomedical research, as a result of the relationship that has been forged over the years between La Paz University Hospital (HULP) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). This strategic alliance has enabled multidisciplinary teams belonging to the above institutions to be set up in order to take on joint research projects, making the most of the human and material research resources at their disposal and promoting fundraising for research. For more information: http://www.idipaz.es.

About Era7 Bioinformatics

Era7 bioinformatics is the leading Spanish Next Generation Sequencing bioinformatics company with a business model based on Research, Open Source and the use of Amazon Cloud Computing.  Its focus on bacterial genomics has led to the development of BG7, an innovative pipeline for bacterial genome annotation designed for Next Generation Sequencing data. For more information: http://www.era7bioinformatics.com.

About LifeSequencing

LifeSequencing is based in Valencia, Spain. It is the leading Spanish company in Next Generation Sequencing data generation and interpretation. Lifesequencing is specialized in developing Taylor made massive sequencing solutions for answering any question that researchers and private companies may arise. For further information: http://www.lifesequencing.com.

For life science research only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

454, 454 LIFE SCIENCES, 454 SEQUENCING, and GS FLX are trademarks of Roche.

All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For further information please contact:
Roche Diagnostics
Dr. Burkhard Ziebolz
Phone: +49-8856-604830
Email: burkhard.ziebolz@roche.com

454 Life Sciences Corporation, a Roche Company
Katie Montgomery
Phone: +1-203-871-2300
Email: katie.montgomery@roche.com