Acquisition of a novel conjugative multidrug-resistant hypervirulent plasmid leads to hypervirulence in clinical carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains.
Gong LiLing JiaLei WanLijuan XiaAng GaoRunshi YangRuanyang SunMinge WangJuan DuXinlei LianRongmin ZhangLiangxing FangXiaoping LiaoYahong LiuBao-Tao LiuJian SunPublished in: mLife (2023)
The co-occurrence of plasmid-mediated multidrug resistance and hypervirulence in epidemic carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged as a global public health issue. In this study, an ST23 carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (CR-HvKP) strain VH1-2 was identified from cucumber in China and harbored a novel hybrid plasmid pVH1-2-VIR. The plasmid pVH1-2-VIR carrying both virulence and multidrug-resistance (MDR) genes was likely generated through the recombination of a virulence plasmid and an IncFIIK conjugative MDR plasmid in clinical ST23 18622 isolated from a sputum sample. The plasmid pVH1-2-VIR exhibited the capacity for transfer to the clinical ST11 carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae (CRKP) strain via conjugation assay. Acquisition of pVH1-2-VIR plasmid directly converted a CRKP into CR-HvKP strain characterized by hypermucoviscosity, heightened virulence for Galleria mellonella larvae, and increased colonization ability in the mouse intestine. The emergence of such a hybrid plasmid may expedite the spread of CR-HvKP strains, posing a significant risk to human health.
Keyphrases
- escherichia coli
- klebsiella pneumoniae
- multidrug resistant
- biofilm formation
- public health
- human health
- crispr cas
- risk assessment
- drug resistant
- gram negative
- cystic fibrosis
- acinetobacter baumannii
- genome wide
- dna damage
- staphylococcus aureus
- oxidative stress
- high throughput
- dna methylation
- climate change
- respiratory tract
- dna repair
- transcription factor