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Plasmid pDTC28 was isolated from the sediments of Haihe River using E. coli CV601 (gfp-tagged) as recipient and indigenous bacteria from the sediment as donors. This plasmid confers reduced susceptibility to tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole. The complete sequence of plasmid pDTC28 was 61,503 bp in length with an average G+C content of 64.09%. Plasmid pDTC28 belongs to the IncP-1β group by phylogenetic analysis. The backbones of plasmid pDTC28 and other IncP-1β plasmids are very classical and conserved, whereas the accessory regions of these plasmids are diverse. A blaGES-5-like gene was found on the accessory region, and this blaGES-5-like gene contained 18 silent mutations and 7 missense mutations compared with the blaGES-5 gene. The mutations resulted in 7 amino acid substitutions in GES-5 carbapenemase, causing the loss of function of the blaGES-5-like gene on plasmid pDTC28 against carbapenems and even β-lactams. The enzyme produced by the blaGES-5-like gene cassette may be a new variant of GES-type enzymes. Thus, the plasmid sequenced in this study will expand our understanding of GES-type β-lactamases and provide insights into the genetic platforms used for the dissemination of GES-type genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, bla NDM and bla KPC genes have been found predominantly in clinical settings around the world. In contrast, bacteria harbouring these two genes from natural environments are relatively less well studied compared to those found in clinical settings. In this study, a carbapenem-resistant Raoultella ornithinolytica strain, WLK218, was isolated from urban river sediment in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China. This isolate was subjected to PCR and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. PCR results showed that this isolate was positive for both the bla NDM-1 and bla KPC-2 genes. The antimicrobial susceptibility testing results showed that this isolate exhibited resistance or intermediate resistance to all the antibiotics tested except for streptomycin (susceptible) and cefepime (susceptible-dose dependent). The complete genome sequence of the WLK218 isolate was then determined by using a combination of the PacBio and Illumina sequencing technologies. The de novo assembly of the genome generated one chromosome and six plasmids. Among the six plasmids, the bla NDM-1 gene was carried on the IncX3 plasmid pWLK-NDM, while the bla KPC-2 gene was located on the untypeable plasmid pWLK-KPC. This is the first report of an environmental Raoultella ornithinolytica isolate co-harbouring the bla NDM-1 and bla KPC-2 genes.

Plasmid pGA45 was isolated from the sediments of Haihe River using Escherichia coli CV601 (gfp-tagged) as recipients and indigenous bacteria from sediment as donors. This plasmid confers reduced susceptibility to imipenem which belongs to carbapenem group. Plasmid pGA45 was fully sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing system. The complete sequence of plasmid pGA45 was 140,698 bp in length with an average G + C content of 52.03%. Sequence analysis shows that pGA45 belongs to IncFIIY group and harbors a backbone region which shares high homology and gene synteny to several other IncF plasmids including pNDM1_EC14653, pYDC644, pNDM-Ec1GN574, pRJF866, pKOX_NDM1, and pP10164-NDM. In addition to the backbone region, plasmid pGA45 harbors two notable features including one bla IMI-3-containing region and one type VI secretion system region. The bla IMI-3-containing region is responsible for bacteria carbapenem resistance and the type VI secretion system region is probably involved in bacteria virulence, respectively. Plasmid pGA45 represents the first complete nucleotide sequence of the bla IMI-harboring plasmid from environment sample and the sequencing of this plasmid provided insight into the architecture used for the dissemination of bla IMI carbapenemase genes.