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Whole-Genome Sequencing for Bacterial Strain Typing Using the iSeq100 Platform

Background: Hospital-acquired infections pose a significant threat to patient health. Laboratories are starting to consider whole-genome sequencing (WGS) as a molecular method for outbreak detection and epidemiological surveillance. The objective of this study was to assess the use of the iSeq100 platform (Illumina, San Diego, CA) for accurate sequencing and WGS-based outbreak detection using the bioMérieux EPISEQ CS, a novel cloud-based software for sequence assembly and data analysis. Methods: In total, 25 isolates, including 19 MRSA isolates and 6 ATCC strains were evaluated in this study: A. baumannii ATCC 19606, B. cepacia ATCC 25416, E. faecalis ATCC 29212, E. coli ATCC 25922, P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and S. aureus ATCC 25923. DNA extraction of all isolates was performed on the QIAcube (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) using the DNEasy Ultra Clean Microbial kit extraction protocol. DNA libraries were prepared for WGS using the Nextera DNA Flex Library Prep Kit (Illumina) and sequenced at 2×150-bp on the iSeq100 according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The 19 MRSA isolates were previously characterized by the DiversiLab system (bioMérieux, France). Upon validation of the iSeq100 platform, a new outbreak analysis was performed using WGS analysis using EPISEQ CS. ATCC sequences were compared to assembled reference genomes from the NCBI GenBank to assess the accuracy of the iSeq100 platform. The FASTQ files were aligned via BowTie2 version 2.2.6 software, using default parameters, and FreeBayes version 1.1.0.46-0 was used to call homozygous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with a minimum coverage of 5 and an allele frequency of 0.87 using default parameters. ATCC sequences were analyzed using ResFinder version 3.2 and were compared in silico to the reference genome. Results: EPISEQ CS classified 8 MRSA isolates as unrelated and grouped 11 isolates into 2 separate clusters: cluster A (5 isolates) and cluster B (6 isolates) with similarity scores of ≥99.63% and ≥99.50%, respectively. This finding contrasted with the previous characterization by DiversiLab, which identified 3 clusters of 2, 8, and 11 isolates, respectively. The EPISEQ CS resistome data detected the mecA gene in 18 of 19 MRSA isolates. Comparative analysis of the ATCCsequences to the reference genomes showed 99.9986% concordance of SNPs and 100.00% concordance between the resistance genes present. Conclusions: The iSeq100 platform accurately sequenced the bacterial isolates and could be an affordable alternative in conjunction with EPISEQ CS for epidemiological surveillance analysis and infection prevention. Funding: None Disclosures: None