Interplay among IncA and blaKPC-Carrying Plasmids in Citrobacter freundii

Ibrahim Bitar; Mariasofia Caltagirone; Laura Villa; Vittoria Mattioni Marchetti; Elisabetta Nucleo; Mario Sarti; Roberta Migliavacca; Alessandra Carattoli

doi:10.1128/AAC.02609-18

Interplay among IncA and bla_KPC-Carrying Plasmids in Citrobacter freundii

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019 Apr 25;63(5):e02609-18. doi: 10.1128/AAC.02609-18. Print 2019 May.

Authors

Ibrahim Bitar¹, Mariasofia Caltagirone², Laura Villa³, Vittoria Mattioni Marchetti², Elisabetta Nucleo², Mario Sarti⁴, Roberta Migliavacca², Alessandra Carattoli⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, Biomedical Center, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic ibrahimbitar5@gmail.com.
² Unit of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical-Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
³ Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
⁴ S. Agostino-Estense-Baggiovara Hospital, Modena, Italy.
⁵ Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

We report two KPC-producing Citrobacter freundii isolates from unrelated patients. In one case, bla_KPC-2 was harbored on a novel variant of a Tn4401 transposon of an IncN plasmid conjugated together with a coresident IncA plasmid, whereas in the other one, bla_KPC-3 was on a Tn4401a transposon located on an IncX3-IncA self-conjugative plasmid fusion. The interplay among plasmids carrying bla_KPC and the coresident IncA plasmids offers new information on plasmids coresident within clinically relevant enterobacteria.

Keywords: Citrobacter freundii; IncA; IncN; IncX3; KPC; Tn4401a; Tn4401i.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Citrobacter freundii / drug effects
Citrobacter freundii / genetics*
DNA Transposable Elements / genetics
Enterobacteriaceae / genetics
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Plasmids / genetics*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
DNA Transposable Elements