Klebsiella quasipneumoniae subsp. similipneumoniae ST1859 O5:KL35 from Soil: First Report of qnrE1 in the Environment.

ABSTRACT

A Klebsiella quasipneumoniae subsp. similipneumoniae strain, named S915, belonging to the ST1859 O5KL35, and harboring the plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance qnrE1 gene, was isolated from a soil sample cultivated with lettuce in Brazil. The core genome multilocus sequence typing analysis revealed that S915 strain was most related to a clinical strain of Brazil. Comparative genomic analysis showed that ST1859 O5KL35 strains have been circulating in clinical settings and are closely related to multidrug resistance and multimetal tolerance. Strain S915 presented a plasmid contig co-harboring the qnrE1 gene and tellurite tolerance operon. The region harboring the qnrE1 gene (ISEcp1-qnrE1-araJ-ahp) shared high similarity with others from infected humans, ready-to-eat dish, and food-producing animals in Brazil. This is the first report of the plasmid-mediated qnrE1 gene in the environment. Our findings evidence the initial dissemination of the qnrE1 gene in the environment by the introduction of a clinical strain, which may be spread to different sectors, representing a One Health challenge.