Diversity of genetic platforms harboring the blaPER-2 gene in Enterobacterales and insights into the role of ISPa12 in its mobilization and dissemination.

RUGGIERO, MELINA; BRUNETTI, FLORENCIA; DABOS, LAURA; GIRLICH, DELPHINE; MUÑOZ, JACKSON IVAN BRICEÑO; CONZA, JOSÉ DI; POWER, PABLO; GUTKIND, GABRIEL; NAAS, THIERRY

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2023

0924-8579

The production of PER-like extended-spectrum β-lactamases has recently been associated with reduced susceptibility to the last resort drugs aztreonam/avibactam and cefiderocol. PER-2 have been mainly confined to Argentina and neighboring countries. Until now, only three plasmids harboring blaPER-2 genes have been characterized but very little is known about the involvement of different plasmid groups in its dissemination. This study analyzed the diversity of genetic platforms associated with blaPER-2 genes from a collection of PER-producing Enterobacterales by describing both the close environment as well as the plasmid backbones. Full sequences of eleven plasmids were obtained by short (Illumina) and long read (Oxford Nanopore or PacBio) sequencing technologies. De novo assemblies, annotation and sequence analysis were performed by Unicycler, Prokka and BLAST. Plasmids analysis revealed that blaPER-2 gene is encoded on plasmids of different incompatibility groups (A, C, FIB, HI1B, N2) suggesting that this gene may have been disseminated through a variety of plasmids. Analysis and comparison with the few public available nucleotide sequences describing blaPER-2 genetic environment, including those from the environmental species Pararheinheimera spp. (considered as the progenitor of blaPER genes), suggests a role of ISPa12 in blaPER-2 gene mobilization from the chromosome of Pararheinheimera spp. Also, the blaPER-2 gene was carried by a novel ISPa12-composite transposon Tn7390. In addition, its association with ISKox2-like elements in the close genetic environment in all analyzed plasmids suggests a role of this IS in further dissemination of blaPER-2 genes.