Alexandr Nemec

TL;DR: An overview of the current knowledge of the genus Acinetobacter is presented, with the emphasis on the clinically most important species, Acetobacter baumannii.

TL;DR: Restricted amounts of diversity and a star-like phylogeny reveal that A. baumannii is a genetically compact species that suffered a severe bottleneck in the recent past, possibly linked to a restricted ecological niche.

TL;DR: The genomic distinctness and monophyly of the individual species of the Acinetobacter baumannii complex were supported and some degree of differentiation between them could be made on the basis of growth at different temperatures and of assimilation of malonate, l-tartrate levulinate or citraconate.

TL;DR: The occurrence of identical resistance genes, gene combinations and class 1 integrons associated with these genes in clonally distinct strains indicates that horizontal gene transfer plays a major role in the dissemination of aminoglycoside resistance in A. baumannii.

TL;DR: The data suggest that A. baumannii arose from an ancient population bottleneck followed by population expansion under strong purifying selection, and the outstanding diversification of the species occurred largely by horizontal transfer at specific hotspots preferentially located close to the replication terminus.