Plasmids of the incompatibility group FIBK occur in Klebsiella variicola from diverse ecological niches

Plasmids play a fundamental role in the evolution of bacteria by allowing them to adapt to different environments and acquire, through horizontal transfer, genes that confer resistance to different classes of antibiotics. Using the available in vitro and in silico plasmid typing systems, we analyzed a set of isolates and public genomes of K. variicola to study its plasmid diversity. The resistome, the plasmid multilocus sequence typing (pMLST), and molecular epidemiology using the MLST system were also studied. A high frequency of IncF plasmids from human isolates but lower frequency from plant isolates were found in our strain collection. In silico detection revealed 297 incompatibility (Inc) groups, but the IncFIB(K) (216/297) predominated in plasmids from human and environmental samples, followed by IncFII(K) (89/297) and IncFIA/FIA(HI1) (75/297). These Inc groups were associated with clinically important ESBL (CTX-M-15), carbapenemases (KPC-2 and NDM-1), and colistin-resistant genes which were associated with major sequence types (ST): ST60, ST20, and ST10. In silico MOB typing showed 76% (311/404) of the genomes contained one or more of the six relaxase families with MOBF being most abundant. We identified untypeable plasmids carrying bla(KPC-2), bla(IMP-1), and bla(SHV-187) but for which a relaxase was found; this may suggest that novel plasmid structures could be emerging in this bacterial species. The plasmid content in K. variicola has limited diversity, predominantly composed of IncFIB(K) plasmids dispersed in different STs. Plasmid detection using the replicon and MOB typing scheme provide a broader context of the plasmids in K. variicola. This study showed that whole-sequence-based typing provides current insights of the prevalence of plasmid types and their association with antimicrobial resistant genes in K. variicola obtained from humans and environmental niches.

Automated summary

In this study, the plasmid diversity of K. variicola was analyzed using in vitro and in silico plasmid typing systems. The frequency of IncF plasmids was higher in human isolates compared to plant isolates. These plasmids were associated with clinically important antibiotic resistance genes.