Plasmids of the incompatibility group FIBK occur in Klebsiella variicola from diverse ecological niches.

Plasmids play a fundamental role in the evolution of bacteria by allowing them to adapt to different environments and acquire, through horizontal transfer, genes that confer resistance to different classes of antibiotics. Using the available in vitro and in silico plasmid typing systems, we analyzed a set of isolates and public genomes of K. variicola to study its plasmid diversity. The resistome, the plasmid multilocus sequence typing (pMLST), and molecular epidemiology using the MLST system were also studied. A high frequency of IncF plasmids from human isolates but lower frequency from plant isolates were found in our strain collection. In silico detection revealed 297 incompatibility (Inc) groups, but the IncFIBK (216/297) predominated in plasmids from human and environmental samples, followed by IncFIIK (89/297) and IncFIA/FIA(HI1) (75/297). These Inc groups were associated with clinically important ESBL (CTX-M-15), carbapenemases (KPC-2 and NDM-1), and colistin-resistant genes which were associated with major sequence types (ST): ST60, ST20, and ST10. In silico MOB typing showed 76% (311/404) of the genomes contained one or more of the six relaxase families with MOBF being most abundant. We identified untypeable plasmids carrying blaKPC-2, blaIMP-1, and blaSHV-187 but for which a relaxase was found; this may suggest that novel plasmid structures could be emerging in this bacterial species. The plasmid content in K. variicola has limited diversity, predominantly composed of IncFIBK plasmids dispersed in different STs. Plasmid detection using the replicon and MOB typing scheme provide a broader context of the plasmids in K. variicola. This study showed that whole-sequence-based typing provides current insights of the prevalence of plasmid types and their association with antimicrobial resistant genes in K. variicola obtained from humans and environmental niches.

ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae: The most prevalent clinical isolates obtained between 2005 and 2012 in Mexico.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the prevalence of ESBL genes in the principal group of Enterobacteriaceae causing nosocomial infections and to identify the phylogenetic group in Escherichia coli isolates. METHODS: There were collected 1084 ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates during 2005-2012 from adult patients from 14 hospitals and corresponding to eight states and five regions (SE, S, N, W and NW) in Mexico. The CTX-M-(CTX-M-1 group), SHV-, TLA- and GES-type ESBLs genes were screened. The respective alleles were determined in the most of ESBLs genes. In E. coli isolates selected were used to identify the phylogenetic group. RESULTS: The ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae corresponded the most prevalent clinical isolates. CTX-M-type ESBLs genes were the most common, followed by SHV-type, GES-type and the ESBLs TLA-1 gene. The allelic frequency showed to CTX-M-15 ESBL the most prevalent, followed by the SHV-12, SHV-5 and GES-1, GES-19 in the GES family. Among ESBL-producing E. coli isolates the phylogenetic groups A and D were the most common ones. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed an epidemiological change in terms of bacterial species, placing E. coli as the most frequently isolated bacteria among ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Mexico, followed by K. pneumoniae. This frequency is accompanied by a high frequency of ESBL CTX-M-15.