Spanish Research Team Uses Roche’s GS FLX+ System to Sequence Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria in Recent Hospital Outbreak

BRANFORD, Connecticut and MADRID, March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –

A team of researchers from the Hospital Universitario La Paz Research Institute
(IdiPAZ, Madrid) [http://www.idipaz.es ], LifeSequencing S.L. (Valencia)
[http://www.lifesequencing.com ], Era7 Bioinformatics (Madrid)
[http://www.era7bioinformatics.com/en/news.html ] and Roche Spain (Barcelona) announced
today the sequencing of the whole genome of three antibiotic resistant strains of
Klebsiella pneunomiae isolated from a recent outbreak in a Spanish hospital. The sequence
data, generated using Roche’s 454 GS FLX+ System, is some of the first for this particular
bacterial species, providing new insights into how antibiotic resistance evolves within
this microorganism and can lead to hospital outbreaks.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a bacterium frequently found in the mouth and gut of healthy
humans. In most instances, it does not lead to disease but it can mutate opportunistically
and cause diverse types of infections. The bacterium also has a significant capacity to
acquire antibiotic resistance. Three closely related isolates of a pathogenic strain of K.
pneumonia with increasing degrees of antibiotic resistance were obtained in the
Microbiology department at Hospital Universitario La Paz and sequenced at LifeSequencing
in Valencia, Spain using the long read GS FLX+ System, developed by 454 Life Sciences, a
Roche Company. The sequencing data was assembled using the GS De Novo Assembler software
and functional annotation was performed to identify the relevant genes codified in the
three genomes with BG7, the optimized system developed by Era 7 Bioinformatics, providing
rich functional annotation of 454 Sequencing data.

The researchers found that the three bacteria strains showed an increasing resistance
pattern to a wide range of the antibiotics most commonly used at the hospital. Comparison
of the genomes will give insights regarding how antibiotic resistance evolves within K.
pneumonia and will aid in efforts to reduce the increasing prevalence of antibiotic
resistance worldwide. In addition, the comparison of these genomes with other previously
studied bacteria will help to understand how a microorganism that is part of our normal
microbiome can become a dangerous pathogen.

“Fast and affordable sequencing of pathogenic bacteria is a huge qualitative and
quantitative advance that is radically changing the way researchers and clinicians view
the infectious disease process,” said Dr. Jesus Mingorance lead researcher at the Hospital
Universitario La Paz. The GS FLX+ and GS Junior Systems from Roche are aiding in these
pathogen detection and bacterial comparative genomics efforts worldwide.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare
with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest
biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation,
metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based
cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalized healthcare
strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible
improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2011, Roche had
over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group
posted sales of 42.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned
member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For
more information: http://www.roche.com.

About IdiPAZ

The IdiPAZ Institute for Health Research was created as a place for biomedical
research, as a result of the relationship that has been forged over the years between La
Paz University Hospital (HULP) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). This
strategic alliance has enabled multidisciplinary teams belonging to the above institutions
to be set up in order to take on joint research projects, making the most of the human and
material research resources at their disposal and promoting fundraising for research. For
more information: http://www.idipaz.es.

About Era7 Bioinformatics

Era7 bioinformatics is the leading Spanish Next Generation Sequencing bioinformatics
company with a business model based on Research, Open Source and the use of Amazon Cloud
Computing. Its focus on bacterial genomics has led to the development of BG7, an
innovative pipeline for bacterial genome annotation designed for Next Generation
Sequencing data. For more information: http://www.era7bioinformatics.com.

About LifeSequencing

LifeSequencing is based in Valencia, Spain. It is the leading Spanish company in Next
Generation Sequencing data generation and interpretation. Lifesequencing is specialized in
developing Taylor made massive sequencing solutions for answering any question that
researchers and private companies may arise. For further information:

http://www.lifesequencing.com.

For life science research only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

454, 454 LIFE SCIENCES, 454 SEQUENCING, and GS FLX are trademarks of Roche.

All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

        For further information please contact:
        Roche Diagnostics
        Dr. Burkhard Ziebolz
        Phone: +49-8856-604830
        Email: burkhard.ziebolz@roche.com

        454 Life Sciences Corporation, a Roche Company
        Katie Montgomery
        Phone: +1-203-871-2300
        Email: katie.montgomery@roche.com

SOURCE Roche Diagnostics GmbH