Impact of meropenem on <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> metabolism

The aim of this study was to analyze the metabolome of several Klebsiella pneumoniae strains characterized by different resistance patterns. A total of 59 bacterial strains (27 carbapenemase-negative and 32 carbapenemase-positive) were included and their metabolic features were assessed in basal conditions. Moreover, 8 isolates (4 wild-type and 4 KPC-producers) were randomly selected to evaluate the impact of sub-lethal concentrations of meropenem on bacterial metabolism. The metabolomic analysis was performed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy both on filtered supernatants and cell lysates. A total of 40 and 20 molecules were quantified in the intracellular and the extracellular metabolome, respectively. While in basal conditions only five metabolites showed significant differences between carbapenemase-positive and negative strains, the use of meropenem had a profound impact on the whole bacterial metabolism. In the intracellular compartment, a reduction of different overflow metabolites and organic acids (e.g. formate, acetate, isobutyrate) was noticed, whereas, in the extracellular metabolome, the levels of several organic acids (e.g. succinate, acetate, formate, lactate) and amino acids (aspartate, threonine, lysine, alanine) were modified by meropenem stimulation. Interestingly, carbapenemase-positive and negative strains reacted differently to meropenem in terms of number and type of perturbed metabolites. In wild-type strains, meropenem had great impact on the metabolic pathways related to methane metabolism and alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, whereas in KPC-producers the effect was predominant on pyruvate metabolism. The knowledge about the bacterial metabolic profiles could help to set up innovative diagnostic methods and new antimicrobial strategies to fight the global crisis against carbapenemase-positive K. pneumoniae.