The human gut serves as a reservoir of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) can cause serious infections and has been increasingly reported clinically. However, we still lack the knowledge to what degree hvKp colonize the community. In this study, we investigated colonization of hvKp in healthy human gut and the relationship between gut hvKp and clinically important invasive strains. We compile global genomes of gut K. pneumoniae for in-depth genetic analysis and found most hvKp genomes originated from Chinese datasets; therefore, we collected gut K. pneumoniae isolates from healthy people around China. The results revealed a moderate carriage rate of hvKp in the healthy population (4%-5.19%). Phylogenetic analysis indicated a close relationship between gut hvKp and fatal clinical strains. These results demonstrate that the human gut may serve as a reservoir of hvKp and that gut hvKp can play a role in infection of other body parts.

Keywords: Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae; healthy people; human gut; reservoir.

Figure 1.

Workflow of data collection. a. The collection of global K. pneumoniae MAGs from online datasets. b. Isolation of K. pneumoniae strains from healthy Chinese population gut.

Figure 2.

Phylogenetic tree of hypervirulent or MDR K. pneumoniae genomes collected from an online database with detailed characteristics attached to each genome. STs, K locus types, and the presence of genes were annotated using Kleborate ver. 2.0.4. The countries of collection are indicated with color patches.