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. 2024 May 7;13(5):387.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens13050387.

Rapid Dissemination of blaNDM-5 Gene among Carbapenem-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolates in a Yellow-Feather Broiler Farm via Multiple Plasmid Replicon

Zhenbao Ma  1   2 , Bo Wang  1 , Dongping Zeng  1 , Huanzhong Ding  1 , Zhenling Zeng  1
Affiliations

Rapid Dissemination of blaNDM-5 Gene among Carbapenem-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolates in a Yellow-Feather Broiler Farm via Multiple Plasmid Replicon

Zhenbao Ma et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Although carbapenems have not been approved for animal use, carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (CREC) strains are increasingly being detected in food-producing animals, posing a significant public health risk. However, the epidemiological characteristics of CREC isolates in yellow-feather broiler farms remain unclear. We comprehensively investigated the genetic features of carbapenem-resistance genes among E. coli isolates recovered from a yellow-feather broiler farm in Guangdong province, China. Among the 172 isolates, 88 (51.2%) were recovered from chicken feces (88.5%, 54/61), the farm environment (51.1%, 24/47), and specimens of dead chickens (15.6%, 41/64). All CREC isolates were positive for the blaNDM-5 gene and negative for other carbapenem-resistance genes. Among 40 randomly selected isolates subjected to whole-genome sequencing, 10 belonged to distinct sequence types (STs), with ST167 (n = 12) being the most prevalent across different sources, suggesting that the dissemination of blaNDM-5 was mainly due to horizontal and clonal transmission. Plasmid analysis indicated that IncX3, IncHI2, and IncR-X1-X3 hybrid plasmids were responsible for the rapid transmission of the blaNDM-5 gene, and the genetic surrounding of blaNDM-5 contained a common mobile element of the genetic fragment designated "IS5-△ISAba125-blaNDM-5-bleMBL-trpF-dsbC". These findings demonstrate a critical role of multiple plasmid replicons in the dissemination of blaNDM-5 and carbapenem resistance.

Keywords: CREC; genetic features; horizontal transfer; whole-genome sequencing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author Zhenbao Ma was employed by Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Research Center of Guangdong Haid Group Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Antibiotic resistance rates of 88 CREC isolates. Abbreviations: AMP, ampicillin; CTX, cefotaxime; CAZ, ceftazidime; FOX, cefoxitin; IMP, imipenem; MEM, meropenem; GEN, gentamycin; AMI, amikacin; TET, tetracycline; TIG, tigecycline; FLR, florfenicol; FOS, fosfomycin; CIP, ciprofloxacin; SXT, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Heatmap representation of sequenced data for plasmid types, antibiotic resistance genes, virulence genes, and multi-locus sequence types of 40 blaNDM-5-positive E. coli isolates. The single-nucleotide polymorphism-based phylogenetic tree was created by Parsnp in the Harvest package (version 1.1.2), and was visualized and annotated using Fig tree version 1.4.2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Linear comparison of the genetic structures of the blaNDM-5 gene. Arrows indicate the positions and directions of gene transcription. Regions with >99% homology are shaded in gray. △ indicates a truncated gene.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Ring comparison of plasmids p8C57-NDM (A) and p8C59-NDM (B) constructed using BRIG. Blue arrows indicate resistance genes, red arrows indicate insertion sequences, and black arrows without annotation indicate hypothetical proteins. The sequences of plasmids pHNSHP45-2 (KU341381), p13C1065T-1 (CP019260), pSJ_255 (CP011062), p1108-NDM (MG825381), pCTXM-2271 (MF589339), and pNDM5_IncX3 (KU761328) were downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information nucleotide database.
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