AUTHOR=Liu Baomo , Guo Yingyi , Liu Ningjing , Wang Jiong , Li Feifeng , Yao Likang , Zhuo Chao 

TITLE=In silico Evolution and Comparative Genomic Analysis of IncX3 Plasmids Isolated From China Over Ten Years

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.725391

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.725391

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=IncX3 plasmids are correlated with the dissemination and acquisition of carbapenem-resistance in Enterobacteriaceae and has been prevalent in China for 10 years. Since the distribution characteristics of IncX3 plasmids across China as well as their evolutionary traits among ten years stay unclear, here we conducted retrospective literature review and in silico comparative analysis of IncX3 plasmids in publicly available IncX3 plasmid genomes. IncX3 plasmids distributing in 17 provinces or cities were extracted for analysis, which tend to be specifically associated with hospital-isolated E.coli ST410 from phylogroup A. Although the backbones of IncX3 plasmids maintain highly conservative among ten years, the blaNDM resistance genetic contexts on plasmid could fall into 5 subtypes, among which AR_N1_I has been identified in Enterobacter cloacae174 chromosome and AR_N5_I was simultaneously located on IncF and IncA/C plasmids. This suggests the blaNDM resistance gene environment can spread between different plasmids, or different bacterial genera, or between strains and plasmids, highlighting that it is imperative to adopt more stringent infection control measures targeting IncX3 plasmid spread.