Epidemiology of Plasmids in <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> with Acquired Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase Genes Isolated from Chronic Wounds in Ghana

oleh: Frederik Pankok, Stefan Taudien, Denise Dekker, Thorsten Thye, Kwabena Oppong, Charity Wiafe Akenten, Maike Lamshöft, Anna Jaeger, Martin Kaase, Simone Scheithauer, Konstantin Tanida, Hagen Frickmann, Jürgen May, Ulrike Loderstädt

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-05-01

Deskripsi

Little information is available on the local epidemiology of mobile genetic elements such as plasmids harboring acquired beta-lactamase genes in Western African Ghana. In the present study, we screened for plasmids in three <i>Escherichia coli</i> and four <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> isolates expressing extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) mediated by the <i>bla</i><sub>CTX-M-15</sub> gene from chronically infected wounds of Ghanaian patients. Bacterial isolates were subjected to combined short-read and long-read sequencing to obtain the sequences of their respective plasmids. In the <i>bla</i><sub>CTX-M-15</sub>-gene-carrying plasmids of the four ESBL-positive <i>K. pneumoniae</i> isolates, IncFIB/IncFII (<i>n</i> = 3) and FIA (<i>n</i> = 1) sequences were detected, while in the <i>bla</i><sub>CTX-M-15</sub>-gene-carrying plasmids of the three ESBL-positive <i>E. coli</i> isolates, IncFIA/IncFIB (<i>n</i> = 2) and IncFIB (<i>n</i> = 1) sequences were found. The three IncFIB/IncFII sequence-containing plasmids were almost identical to a <i>K. pneumoniae</i> plasmid reported from France. They belonged to the clonal lineages ST17, ST36 and ST39 of <i>K. pneumoniae</i>, suggesting transversal spread of this obviously evolutionary successful plasmid in Ghana. Other resistance gene-encoding plasmids observed in the assessed Enterobacterales harbored IncFIA/IncR and IncFII sequences. International spread was confirmed by the high genetic similarity to resistance-mediating plasmids published from Asia, Australia, Europe and Northern America, including a <i>bla</i><sub>CTX-M-15</sub>-gene-carrying plasmid isolated from a wild bird in Germany. In conclusion, the study contributed to the scarcely available information on the epidemiology of third-generation cephalosporine resistance-mediating plasmids in Ghana. Furthermore, the global spread of resistance-mediating plasmids provided hints on the evolutionary success of individual resistance-harboring plasmids by transversal spread among <i>K. pneumoniae</i> lineages in Ghana.