Purpose The main objectives of the present study were to detect the antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular characteristics of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from different hosts and to investigate the possibility of K. pneumoniae transmission between animals and humans. Materials and methods A total of 189 nonduplicate K. pneumoniae isolates were collected from hospitals and four species of animals in Henan Province, China. The disk diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and resistance and virulence genes were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The molecular types were identified through multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and the hypermucoviscous (HMV) phenotype was identified using the “string-forming test”. Pearson’s parameters were used to determine the potential link among the molecular types and resistance and virulence genes of all K. pneumoniae strains. Results The resistance rates of the 189 K. pneumoniae isolates against 15 antibiotics ranged from 11.6% to 77.8%. The highest multidrug resistance rate was detected in the pig strains (93.6%), followed by the human strains (90.4%), chicken strains (88.9%), cow strains (52.0%) and sheep strains (50.0%). Forty-eight (25.4%) K. pneumoniae strains presented the HMV phenotype. entB, fimH-1 and mrkD were the most prevalent of the detected virulence genes, and magA and rmpA were the least prevalent genes in all the isolates. The MLST analysis revealed 24 unique sequence types (STs) among from the 189 isolates. ST11, ST235 and ST258 were common STs among the five isolates of host origin. ST258 exhibited significantly positive correlations with blaNDM, magA and the HMV phenotype and a negative correlation with qnrB . Conclusion K. pneumoniae strains from different hosts, including humans and animals, have common molecular types and similar phenotypes, and these strains can potentially be transmitted between humans and animals.

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The etiology of alcohol dependence is not completely understood. Increasing evidence reveals that gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with certain psychiatric disorders, including alcoholism, through the “microbiota-gut-brain” axis. The aims were to evaluate the effect of alcohol abuse on the gut microbiota, intestinal permeability and serum metabolic profile and to determine whether alcohol-induced alterations in gut microbiota are correlated with gut permeability and serum metabolic phenotype changes. 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and nontarget metabolomics techniques were applied in an alcohol-dependent rat model in the present study. The results showed that alcohol intake altered the composition and structure of the colonic microbiota, especially the relative abundance of the commensal microbes Lachnospiraceae and Prevotellaceae , which was significantly decreased. Alcohol-dependent rats developed gut leakiness and a serum metabolic phenotype disorder. The valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis pathways and arginine and proline metabolism pathways were obviously influenced by alcohol intake. Moreover, alcohol consumption disturbed the brain’s neurotransmitter homeostasis. The regression analysis showed that alcohol-induced colonic microbiota dysbiosis was strongly associated with increased intestinal permeability and serum metabolic phenotype and neurotransmitter disorders. These results revealed that gut microbiota dysbiosis and serum metabolites alteration might be a cofactor for developing of alcohol dependence. IMPORTANCE The gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with certain psychiatric disorders through the “microbiota-gut-brain” axis. Here we revealed that alcohol consumption induced the colonic microbiota dysbiosis, increased intestinal permeability, altered the serum metabolic phenotype in rats, and there were a strong correlation between gut microbiota dysbiosis and serum metabolites disorders. Thus, gut microbiota dysbiosis and serum metabolites alteration may be a cofactor for development of alcohol dependence.