CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

AbstractObjectivesThe global spreadof KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-KP) strains has revealed the successful dissemination of amajor clone defined as sequence type 258 (ST258). This study reports the draft genome sequenceand the phylogenetic analysis of the first colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae strain (Kpn666) carrying blaKPC-2 identified inUruguay in 2011. Kpn666 was isolated from a 30 year old man, suffering from anasymptomatic catheter-related bacteriuria.MethodsWhole-genome sequencing(WGS) of Kpn666 strain wasperformed using Illumina MiSeq technology and de novo assembly was done usingSPADES version 3.11. Contigs were re-ordered using the ST258 reference genome NJST258_1 (GenBank CP006923) andoriented with the MAUVE Contig Mover. A maximum-likelihood tree using MEGA7 of the 20 completegenomes of K. pneumoniae identifiedas ST258 using the Pasteur MLST site were downloadedfrom GenBank. The tree was created based on core SNPs from whole genomealignment obtained with SNP-sites(https://github.com/sanger-pathogens/snp-sites). ResultsWGS analysis revealed a genome of 5,448,179 bp long (5,232CDS, 108 RNAs). Further studies identified IncR,IncFIB(K) and IncFII(K) plasmid replicons and 11 transferable associated antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), comprising four drugclasses. The mgrB gene, involved incolistin resistance, was shown to have a large deletion of 47 bp (out of 144bp) when compared to ATCC 43816 as reference. Phylogeneticanalysis identified that Kpn666 belonged to clade I lineage of ST258. ConclusionsThe firstisolate of KPC-2-producing K. pneumoniae detected in Uruguay was sequenced and the resultsconfirm the ability of this bacteria to capture several ARGs as well as shed lighton the colistin resistance mechanisms. The introduction of the blaKPC-2 carbapenemase in Uruguay is very likely to havebeen introduced by the high-risk clone ST258.Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae, ST258, KPC