Infection and Drug Resistance (Mar 2023)
Emergence of OXA-484-Producing Klebsiella variicola in China
Abstract
Haoyu Ge,1,2,* Jie Qiao,1,2,* Hao Xu,2 Ruishan Liu,2 Junhui Zhao,3 Ruyan Chen,1 Chenyu Li,1 Mantao Chen,4 Xiaobing Guo1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaobing Guo, Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Jianshe East Road, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, 450000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 371 6627 8237, Fax +86 371 6691 3569, Email [email protected]: The frequent and inappropriate use of antibiotics has caused a dramatic rise in the number, species, and degree of multi-drug resistant bacteria, making them more prevalent and difficult to treat. In this context, the aim of the present study was to characterize the OXA-484-producing strains isolated from a perianal swab of a patient by using whole-genome analysis.Patients and Methods: In this study, carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella variicola was identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), average nucleotide identity (ANI) and PCR. S1 nuclease pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (S1-PFGE) and Southern blotting were utilized to characterize the plasmid profiles of K. variicola 4717. In particular, WGS was performed to obtain genomic information on this clinical isolate, and assemble all the plasmids of the blaOXA-484-harboring strain.Results: The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of K. variicola 4717 revealed that it was resistant to a range of antibiotics, including aztreonam, imipenem, meropenem, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin-tazobactam, methylene-sulfamer oxazole, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefepime, and tigecycline. Its susceptibility to chloromycin was intermediate, while it was still susceptible to amikacin, gentamicin, fosfomycin, and polymyxin B. The presence of two companion plasmids, p4717_1 and p4717_2, together with a plasmid carrying the blaOXA-484 gene was observed. An in-depth investigation of p4717-OXA-484 uncovered that it is an IncX3-type plasmid and shares a similar segment encoded by IS26. Given the similar genetic background, it was conceivable that blaOXA-484 could have developed from blaOXA-181 through a series of mutations.Conclusion: Herein, we described the first genome sequence of K. variicola strain harbouring the class D β-actamase blaOXA-484 in an Inc-X3-type plasmid. Our work also uncovered the genetic characterization of K. variicola 4717 and the importance of initiating antimicrobial detection promptly.Keywords: Klebsiella variicola, OXA-484, IncX3, mutation
