Whole-Genome Sequencing to Predict Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Point-of-care diagnostics for antimicrobial susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae being developed with the goal of reintroducing previously used therapies. One promising target is gyrA codon 91, which has been shown to predict ciprofloxacin susceptibility. Additionally, whole genome sequencing of N. gonorrhoeae has potential to predict susceptibility to a panel of antimicrobials.

In our study, we genotyped a global collection of N. gonorrhoeae isolates to evaluate the potential of known resistance-associated loci for prediction of antimicrobial susceptibility. We confirmed that gyrA 91 predicts ciprofloxacin susceptibility with high sensitivity and specificity. However, we also showed that multiple loci are necessary to accurate predict susceptibility for all other antimicrobials evaluated.

This project is now published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases!