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Updated: May 25, 2026

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
09:00

Testing the Role of Multicopy Plasmids in the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance

Published on: May 2, 2018

blaKPC and rmtB on a single plasmid in Enterobacter amnigenus and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from the same

J-F Sheng1, J-J Li, S Tu

  • 1State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Disease, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.

European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases : Official Publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology
|January 13, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Multidrug-resistant Enterobacter amnigenus and Klebsiella pneumoniae, both carrying blaKPC and rmtB genes on a single plasmid, emerged in a neurosurgery ward. This study highlights an outbreak of the ST11 Klebsiella pneumoniae clone.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Molecular Epidemiology
  • Antimicrobial Resistance

Background:

  • Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Enterobacter amnigenus and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were identified in a neurosurgery department.
  • An outbreak of MDR K. pneumoniae was also noted in the same department.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize the resistance mechanisms and molecular epidemiology of MDR Enterobacter amnigenus and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates.
  • To investigate the genetic basis of resistance and clonal relatedness during an outbreak.

Main Methods:

  • Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), plasmid analysis, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing (MLST).

Main Results:

  • Both Enterobacter amnigenus (EA76) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP76) isolates were resistant to most tested antibiotics, except colistin and tigecycline.
  • blaKPC-2, blaTEM-1, blaCTX-M-14, and rmtB genes were co-carried on a single plasmid in both isolates.
  • The Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreak involved ST11 clone strains, with shared resistance genes and PFGE profiles.

Conclusions:

  • The study identified the emergence of multidrug-resistant Enterobacter amnigenus and an outbreak of ST11 Klebsiella pneumoniae in a neurosurgery ward.
  • Both bacterial species harbored blaKPC and rmtB genes on a single plasmid, indicating a significant public health threat.

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