Laboratory of Bacterial Genetics
alexandr.nemec@szu.gov.cz
267 082 266
https://szu.gov.cz/anemec
The laboratory was founded in 1990 by Professor J. Schindler as part of the Clinical Microbiology Group of the Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology (CEM). Since 2006, it has been an organisational unit within the CEM under the name Laboratory of Bacterial Genetics (LBG).
The LBG focuses on the taxonomy, population genetic structure, epidemiological typing, antibiotic resistance, and ecology of Gram-negative bacteria belonging to the group of aerobic, glucose-non-fermenting rods. The main group studied is the genus Acinetobacter, to the understanding of which the LBG has made significant contributions and is internationally recognised in this field.
Staff (Web of Science ResearcherID)
– Prof. RNDr. Alexandr Nemec, Ph.D. et Ph.D. (C-4447-2008)
– Mgr. Lenka Radolfová (née Křížová), Ph.D. (J-6487-2015)
– Martina Maixnerová (J-6753-2015)
Activities of LBG (Acinetobacter)
Reference and advisory support
– Species identification.
– Typing of bacterial isolates for epidemiological analysis of healthcare associated infections.
– Investigation of antibiotic susceptibility and resistance mechanisms.
– Advice on microbiological diagnosis, therapy, epidemiology and infection prevention and control practices.
Research
– Taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus. Motto.
– Methods for classification and identification at the species and subspecies level.
– Species/strain diversity and characteristics of acinetobacters in different ecosystems with varying degrees of interaction with human activities.
– Mechanisms, evolution and epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance.
– New approaches to the treatment of infections caused by extensively resistant strains.
– Management and updating of the world’s unique taxonomic LBG culture collection.
Major achievements
– Taxonomic description of 32 new Acinetobacter species, 28 of which as lead authors [1]. These include the medically relevant species A. ursingii and A. schindleri [2], A. parvus [3], A. beijerinckii and A. gyllenbergii [4], A. bereziniae and A. guillouiae [5], A. pittii and A. nosocomialis [6], A. seifertii [7], A. variabilis [8], A. courvalinii, A. dispersus, A. modestus, A. proteolyticus, and A. vivianii [9], A. colistiniresistens [10], A. pseudolwoffii [11], and A. higginsii [12].
– Contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the genus based on genus-wide phylogenomic analysis [13].
– One of the first laboratories to demonstrate the existence of multidrug-resistant international clones (IC) of A. baumannii IC1 and IC2 [14, 15, 16, 17] and the beginning of the global dominance of IC2 associated with the emergence and spread of carbapenem resistance [18].
– Contribution to the understanding of the evolution of genomic resistance islands [19, 20].
– Discovery of the first known mechanism of resistance to sulbactam, now the main drug in carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii infections [21].
– Authorship of the chapter on the genus Acinetobacter in Bergey’s Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria (2022) [22].
Web pages
Classification and nomenclature of Acinetobacter spp.
Metabolic and physiological characteristics of Acinetobacter spp.
Whole genome sequences of Acinetobacter spp.
Updated 17 January 2025