Plasmids Carrying blaCMY -2/4 in Escherichia coli from Poultry, Poultry Meat, and Humans Belong to a Novel IncK Subgroup Designated IncK2

Abstract

The blaCMY -2/4-carrying IncB/O/K-like plasmids of seven Escherichia coli strains from poultry, poultry meat and human urine samples were examined using comparative analysis of whole plasmid sequences. The incompatibility group was determined by analysis of the incRNAI region and conjugation assays with strains containing the IncK and IncB/O reference plasmids. Strains were additionally characterized using MLST and MIC determination. The complete DNA sequences of all plasmids showed an average nucleotide identity of 91.3%. Plasmids were detected in E. coli sequence type (ST) 131, ST38, ST420, ST1431, ST1564 and belonged to a new plasmid variant (IncK2) within the IncK and IncB/O groups. Notably, one E. coli from poultry meat and one from human contained the same plasmid. The presence of a common recently recognized IncK2 plasmid in diverse E. coli from human urine isolates and poultry meat production suggests that the IncK2 plasmids originated from a common progenitor and have the capability to spread to genetically diverse E. coli in different reservoirs. This discovery is alarming and stresses the need of rapidly introducing strict hygiene measures throughout the food chain, limiting the spread of such plasmids in the human settings.

Heterogeneous Genetic Location of mcr-1 in Colistin-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolates from Humans and Retail Chicken Meat in Switzerland: Emergence of mcr-1 -Carrying IncK2 Plasmids

“…These plasmids were structurally highly similar to IncK2 bla CMY-2/4 -harboring plasmids that we recently described in E. coli (frequently of ST38) isolated in Switzerland from local chicken and chicken meat (15). Such E. coli strains carrying bla CMY-2 -IncK2 plasmids, including strains belonging to ST38, were also associated with broiler production in other European countries (17,18).…”

Horizontal Gene Transfer and Acquired Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella enterica Serovar Heidelberg followingIn VitroIncubation in Broiler Ceca

“…These IncK2 plasmids were found in E. coli strains isolated from clinical and poultry samples collected in European countries (25,26). A phylogenetic tree reconstructed with selected complete IncK2 and IncB/O DNA sequences showed that the plasmid from this study shared up to 62% pairwise identity with IncK2 plasmids reported by Seiffert et al (26) and Ͻ25% identity with plasmids of the IncB/O compatibility group. Consequently, all IncK2 plasmids were represented by a separate clade on the reconstructed ML tree (Fig.…”

Outbreak of CTX-M-15-Producing Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli O159:H20 in the Republic of Korea in 2016

“…Furthermore, the conjugal transfer system (tra locus) of IncI1 plasmids was found in pET20160881. These results indicate that pET20160881 differs from the recently described IncK1 and IncK2 plasmids (12,16) and may be a variant of the IncK plasmid.…”

“…Plasmid pET20160881 is 97,940 bp in size, with an average GC content of 51.0%, and harbors 128 predicted open reading frames (ORFs). Based on comparative analysis of IncK plasmids, pET20160881 contains an IncK replicon detected in the PBRT scheme (11) and a conserved plasmid backbone of IncK responsible for plasmid replication, stability, and partitioning (12,15,16). However, this plasmid was untypeable with new sets of primers for IncK sequence typing (12) and showed 46.6 and 47.5% overall nucleotide identity with the plasmid pCT (IncK1, GenBank accession no.…”