ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1543427
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Antimicrobials: Sources, Mechanisms of Action, Spectrum of Activity, Combination Antimicrobial Therapy, and Resistance MechanismsView all 25 articles
Diversity of mobile genetic elements in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales isolated from intensive care units of a tertiary care hospital from Northeast
Provisionally accepted
- 1ICMR-National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
- 2Agartala Government Medical College, and G B Pant Hospital, Agartala, Tripura, India
- 3Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
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Introduction: Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) play a crucial role in spread of resistance. A study was undertaken to characterize MGEs and evaluate their contribution in spread of carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae collected from 3 intensive care units (ICUs) of a tertiary care hospital of Tripura. Methods: Isolates were subjected to susceptibility testing, genotypic detection of carbapenemases and their transmissibility, whole genome sequencing (WGS) and phylogenomic analysis. Results: E. coli and K. pneumoniae were the dominant Enterobacterales, exhibiting resistance to most antibiotics. WGS of carbapenemase-producing E. coli (n=15/48,31%) and K. pneumoniae (n=13/26,50%) revealed presence of blaNDM-1,5,7 (n=21), blaKPC-2 (n=1) and blaOXA-181,232 (n=8). Isolates were diverse and belonged to different sequence types including epidemic clones (ST16/101/147/167/231/410/648). Allelic shift of blaNDM-1blaNDM-5 similar to global reports has been noted in this study. blaNDM-1,5,7 were conjugative but blaKPC-2 and blaOXA-181,232 were non-conjugative. blaNDM-1,5,7 were present in diverse replicons: IncF-types (predominant), IncHI1B, IncX3 and IncX4, etc., while blaOXA-181,232 in ColKP3, corroborating with global studies. blaNDM-1,5 was associated with intact/truncated ISAba125 in Tn125, blaNDM-7 with IS3000, blaKPC-2 with ISKpn6 & ISKpn7 in Tn4401b, and blaOXA-181,232 with ∆ISEcp1 in Tn2013, depicting an ancestral genetic context noted globally. Study isolates were related to other Indian isolates primarily from blood. Discussion: Association of MGEs noted in the study are similar to those in other parts of India and globe signifying that the genetic determinants are part of the global gene pool. These associations can facilitate spread of resistance leading to outbreaks and treatment failures.
Keywords: Plasmids, insertion sequence element, transposons, BlaNDM-1, 5, 7, blaOXA-181, 232
Received: 11 Dec 2024; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mitra, Naha, Chakraborty, De, Kaur, Majumdar and Basu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sulagna Basu, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
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