Detection of IncN-pST15 one-health plasmid harbouring blaKPC-2 in a hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae CG258 isolated from an infected dog, Brazil

Abstract

The emergence and rapid spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales represents a serious public health concern. Critically, these global priority bacteria have begun to be reported in companion animals, implying a potential risk of cross-transmission between humans and pets. Using long-read (MinION) and short-read (Illumina) sequencing technologies, we have identified and characterized a hypermucoviscous KPC-2-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae strain belonging to the high-risk international clone ST11/CG258, in a dog with urinary tract infection. Strikingly, the bla_KPC-2 gene was carried by a 54-kb IncN plasmid assignated to ST15, which shared 99.8 and 96.8% pairwise identity with IncN-pST15 plasmids from human and environmental K. pneumoniae strains, respectively; all come from an area with high endemicity of KPC-2. Our findings suggest that IncN-pST15 plasmids conferring carbapenem resistance can play as important a role as clonal transmission of K. pneumoniae, representing another major challenge for One Health.

Keywords: carbapenemase; global priority pathogens; one health; pets; plasmidome.

FIGURE 1

BRIG comparative analysis of pPVT01_P3 IncN‐pST15 plasmid harbouring bla _KPC‐2, from a Klebsiella pneumoniae belonging to ST11/CG258 isolated from a dog suffering from urinary tract infection, with two closely related bla _KPC‐2‐positive IncN‐pST15 plasmids from human (pKPC_FCF/3SP, GenBank accession number: CP004367.2) and environmental (pKP148 plasmid, GenBank accession number: KX062091.1) K. pneumoniae strains. The coloured rings denote similarity between the plasmid sequences