Identification of Two Plasmids Coharboring Carbapenemase Genes and <i>tmexCD1-toprJ1</i> in Clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae ST2667
Shangshang Qin, Junke Peng, Rongping Deng, Kai Peng, Tingting Yan, Fangfang Chen, Ruichao Li
Abstract
Recently, a mobile tigecycline resistance module, tmexCD1-toprJ1, was reported in Klebsiella pneumoniae (1, 2). Emergence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) poses great public health concerns; however, the genomic characterizations of clinical carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae (CRKP) strains coharboring carbapenemase genes and tmexCD1-toprJ1 remain largely unexplored. Coexistence of tmexCD1-toprJ1 and mcr-8 on the same plasmid was found in chicken K. pneumoniae strains (2), but coexistence of tmexCD1-toprJ1 and carbapenemase genes in clinical settings has not been shown. Here, we characterize two CRKP strains coharboring a carbapenemase gene and tmexCD1-toprJ1 located on the same plasmid for the first time, highlighting the convergence and cotransmission risk of both resistance genes.