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. 2022 Dec 15;11(24):4058.
doi: 10.3390/foods11244058.

First Report of Potentially Pathogenic Klebsiella pneumoniae from Serotype K2 in Mollusk Tegillarca granosa and Genetic Diversity of Klebsiella pneumoniae in 14 Species of Edible Aquatic Animals

Yingwei Xu  1 , Ling Ni  1   2 , Huiqiong Guan  1 , Dailing Chen  1 , Si Qin  3 , Lanming Chen  1
Affiliations

First Report of Potentially Pathogenic Klebsiella pneumoniae from Serotype K2 in Mollusk Tegillarca granosa and Genetic Diversity of Klebsiella pneumoniae in 14 Species of Edible Aquatic Animals

Yingwei Xu et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae can cause serious pneumonitis in humans. The bacterium is also the common causative agent of hospital-acquired multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections. Here we for the first time reported the genetic diversity of K. pneumoniae strains in 14 species of edible aquatic animals sampled in the summer of 2018 and 2019 in Shanghai, China. Virulence-related genes were present in the K. pneumoniae strains (n = 94), including the entB (98.9%), mrkD (85.1%), fimH (50.0%), and ybtA (14.9%) strains. Resistance to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim was the most prevalent (52.1%), followed by chloramphenicol (31.9%), and tetracycline (27.7%), among the strains, wherein 34.0% had MDR phenotypes. Meanwhile, most strains were tolerant to heavy metals Cu2+ (96.8%), Cr3+ (96.8%), Zn2+ (91.5%), Pb2+ (89.4%), and Hg2+ (81.9%). Remarkably, a higher abundance of the bacterium was found in bottom-dwelling aquatic animals, among which mollusk Tegillarca granosa contained K. pneumoniae 8-2-5-4 isolate from serotype K2 (ST-2026). Genome features of the potentially pathogenic isolate were characterized. The enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR)−based genome fingerprinting classified the 94 K. pneumoniae strains into 76 ERIC genotypes with 63 singletons, demonstrating considerable genetic diversity in the strains. The findings of this study fill the gap in the risk assessment of K. pneumoniae in edible aquatic animals.

Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae; antibiotic resistance; aquatic animal; food safety; genetic diversity; heavy metal tolerance; virulence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The heavy metal–tolerance profiles of the 94 K. pneumoniae strains in the 14 species of aquatic animals: mollusks (A), fish (B), and crustaceans (C).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The ERIC-PCR-based genotyping of the 94 K. pneumoniae strains (A,B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The ERIC-PCR-based genotyping of the 94 K. pneumoniae strains (A,B).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The ERIC-PCR-based genotyping of the 32 K. pneumoniae strains with MDR phenotypes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The genome circle map of K. pneumoniae 8-2-5-4 recovered from T. granosa. Circles from inside to outside were described in our recent research [48]. The reference genome was K. pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae HS11286 (GenBank accession no. CP003200.1) (the third circle), and the draft genome sequence of K. pneumoniae 8-2-5-4 (the fourth circle) was determined in this study (GenBank accession no. JALJQQ000000000).
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