Genetic structures at the origin of acquisition of the beta-lactamase bla KPC gene

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2008 Apr;52(4):1257-63. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01451-07. Epub 2008 Jan 28.

Abstract

Genetic structures surrounding the carbapenem-hydrolyzing Ambler class A bla KPC gene were characterized in several KPC-positive Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from the United States, Colombia, and Greece. The bla KPC genes were associated in all cases with transposon-related structures. In the K. pneumoniae YC isolate from the United States, the beta-lactamase bla KPC-2 gene was located on a novel Tn3-based transposon, Tn4401. Tn4401 was 10 kb in size, was delimited by two 39-bp imperfect inverted repeat sequences, and harbored, in addition to the beta-lactamase bla KPC-2 gene, a transposase gene, a resolvase gene, and two novel insertion sequences, ISKpn6 and ISKpn7. Tn4401 has been identified in all isolates. However, two isoforms of this transposon were found: Tn4401a was found in K. pneumoniae YC and K. pneumoniae GR from the United States and Greece, respectively, and differed by a 100-bp deletion, located just upstream of the bla KPC-2 gene, compared to the sequence of Tn4401b, which was found in the Colombian isolates. In all isolates tested, Tn4401 was flanked by a 5-bp target site duplication, the signature of a recent transposition event, and was inserted in different open reading frames located on plasmids that varied in size and nature. Tn4401 is likely at the origin of carbapenem-hydrolyzing beta-lactamase KPC mobilization to plasmids and its further insertion into various-sized plasmids identified in nonclonally related K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa isolates.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Colombia
  • DNA Transposable Elements / genetics*
  • Greece
  • Humans
  • Klebsiella Infections / microbiology
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / drug effects
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / enzymology*
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / genetics
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / isolation & purification
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Pseudomonas Infections / microbiology
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / drug effects
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / enzymology*
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / genetics
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / isolation & purification
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • United States
  • beta-Lactamases / genetics*
  • beta-Lactams / pharmacology

Substances

  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • beta-Lactams
  • beta-lactamase KPC-2
  • beta-Lactamases

Associated data

  • GENBANK/EU176011
  • GENBANK/EU176012
  • GENBANK/EU176013
  • GENBANK/EU176014