Detection of plasmid families carrying ESBL genes in clinical and environmental E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates

Sammanfattning: Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases (ESBLs) are produced by the Enterobacteriaceae bacterial family, mainly by E. coli and K. pneumoniae. As these species are some of the main causes of urinary tract infections and sepsis, ESBL-production is of major concern. Occurrence of ESBLs also gives rise to concern as it is increasing epidemically. This because the genes coding for ESBLs (i.e. bla-genes) are located on plasmids replicating and spreading the replicated copies independently. Plasmids replicate by replicons. Plasmids with the same replicon variant are grouped into the same plasmid family. The aim of this study was to detect plasmid families carrying bla-genes in E. coli and K. pneumoniae from clinical (n = 6) and environmental water (n = 22) isolates. Plasmid family prevalence was examined. Association between plasmid families and bla-genes was also examined. Plasmid families were detected by a PBRT kit (PCR Based Replicon Typing), a multiplex PCR kit that detected 30 replicons, whereof 27 replicons representing the 27 plasmid families in Enterobacteriaceae, and three novel replicons. The IncF plasmid family was the most prevalent for both species in both clinical and environmental isolates. IncF seemed to be prevalent for all examined ESBLs, but it was difficult to associate one bla-gene with one plasmid family as most isolates carried several bla-genes and several plasmid families.