Bruna Fuga1, Louise Cerdeira2, Quézia Moura3, Herrison Fontana4, Danny Fuentes-Castillo5, Albalúcia C Carvalho6, Nilton Lincopan7. 1. Departmentof Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Clinical Analysis, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; One Health Brazilian Resistance Project (OneBR), Brazil. Electronic address: bruna.fuga@hotmail.com. 2. Departmentof Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; One Health Brazilian Resistance Project (OneBR), Brazil; Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 3. Departmentof Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; One Health Brazilian Resistance Project (OneBR), Brazil; Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. 4. Department of Clinical Analysis, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; One Health Brazilian Resistance Project (OneBR), Brazil. 5. One Health Brazilian Resistance Project (OneBR), Brazil; Department of Pathology, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. 6. Clinical Laboratory, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. 7. Departmentof Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Clinical Analysis, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; One Health Brazilian Resistance Project (OneBR), Brazil. Electronic address: lincopan@usp.br.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The global success of carbapenem-resistant pathogens has been attributed to large plasmids carrying blaKPC genes circulating among high-risk clones. In this study, we sequenced the genome of a carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli strain (Ec351) isolated from a human infection. Phylogenomic analysis based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as well as the comparative resistome and plasmidome of globally disseminated blaKPC-2-positive E. coli strains with identical sequence type (ST) were further investigated. METHODS: Total DNA was sequenced using an Illumina NextSeq 500 platform and was assembled using Unicycler. Genomic data were evaluated through bioinformatics tools available from the Center of Genomic Epidemiology and by in silico analysis. RESULTS: Genomic analysis revealed the convergence of a wide resistome and virulome in E. coli ST648, showing a high-level phylogenetic relationship with a KPC-2-positive ST648 cluster identified in the USA and association with international clade 2. Additionally, the emergence of an IncQ1 small plasmid (pEc351) carrying blaKPC-2 (on an NTEKPC-IId element), aph(3')-VIa, and plasmid regulatory and replication genes in the pandemic clone ST648 is reported. CONCLUSION: Identification of a blaKPC-2-positive IncQ1 plasmid in a high-risk E. coli clone represents rapid adaptation and expansion of these small plasmids encoding carbapenemases to novel bacterial hosts with global distribution, which deserves continued monitoring.
OBJECTIVES: The global success of carbapenem-resistant pathogens has been attributed to large plasmids carrying blaKPC genes circulating among high-risk clones. In this study, we sequenced the genome of a carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli strain (Ec351) isolated from a humaninfection. Phylogenomic analysis based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as well as the comparative resistome and plasmidome of globally disseminated blaKPC-2-positive E. coli strains with identical sequence type (ST) were further investigated. METHODS: Total DNA was sequenced using an Illumina NextSeq 500 platform and was assembled using Unicycler. Genomic data were evaluated through bioinformatics tools available from the Center of Genomic Epidemiology and by in silico analysis. RESULTS: Genomic analysis revealed the convergence of a wide resistome and virulome in E. coli ST648, showing a high-level phylogenetic relationship with a KPC-2-positive ST648 cluster identified in the USA and association with international clade 2. Additionally, the emergence of an IncQ1 small plasmid (pEc351) carrying blaKPC-2 (on an NTEKPC-IId element), aph(3')-VIa, and plasmid regulatory and replication genes in the pandemic clone ST648 is reported. CONCLUSION: Identification of a blaKPC-2-positive IncQ1 plasmid in a high-risk E. coli clone represents rapid adaptation and expansion of these small plasmids encoding carbapenemases to novel bacterial hosts with global distribution, which deserves continued monitoring.