This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: AAC.00772-06v1 51/4/1164    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Zienkiewicz, M. Articles by Ceglowski, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zienkiewicz, M. Articles by Ceglowski, P.

Mosaic Structure of p1658/97, a 125-Kilobase Plasmid Harboring an Active Amplicon with the Extended-Spectrum ß-Lactamase Gene bla_SHV-5

M. Zienkiewicz,^1* I. Kern-Zdanowicz,¹ M. Gobiewski,^1, J. yliñska,¹ P. Mieczkowski,^1, M. Gniadkowski,² J. Bardowski,¹ and P. Cegowski¹

Department of Microbial Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry, and Biophysics of Polish Academy of Sciences,¹ National Institute of Public Health, Warsaw, Poland²

Received 26 June 2006/ Returned for modification 13 August 2006/ Accepted 3 December 2006

Escherichia coli isolates recovered from patients during a clonal outbreak in a Warsaw, Poland, hospital in 1997 produced different levels of an extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL) of the SHV type. The ß-lactamase hyperproduction correlated with the multiplication of ESBL gene copies within a plasmid. Here, we present the complete nucleotide sequence of plasmid p1658/97 carried by the isolates recovered during the outbreak. The plasmid is 125,491 bp and shows a mosaic structure in which all modules constituting the plasmid core are homologous to those found in plasmids F and R100 and are separated by segments of homology to other known regions (plasmid R64, Providencia rettgeri genomic island R391, Vibrio cholerae STX transposon, Klebsiella pneumoniae or E. coli chromosomes). Plasmid p1658/97 bears two replication systems, IncFII and IncFIB; we demonstrated that both are active in E. coli. The presence of an active partition system (sopABC locus) and two postsegregational killing systems (pemIK and hok/sok) indicates that the plasmid should be stably maintained in E. coli populations. The conjugative transfer is ensured by the operons of the tra and trb genes. We also demonstrate that the plasmidic segment undergoing amplification contains the bla_SHV-5 gene and is homologous to a 7.9-kb fragment of the K. pneumoniae chromosome. The amplicon displays the structure of a composite transposon of type I.

Published ahead of print on 12 January 2007.

Present address: Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruñ, Poland.

Present address: Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Box 3054, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Perichon, B., Bogaerts, P., Lambert, T., Frangeul, L., Courvalin, P., Galimand, M. (2008). Sequence of Conjugative Plasmid pIP1206 Mediating Resistance to Aminoglycosides by 16S rRNA Methylation and to Hydrophilic Fluoroquinolones by Efflux. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52: 2581-2592 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hammond, D. S., Harris, T., Bell, J., Turnidge, J., Giffard, P. M. (2008). Selection of SHV Extended-Spectrum-{beta}-Lactamase-Dependent Cefotaxime and Ceftazidime Resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae Requires a Plasmid-Borne blaSHV Gene. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52: 441-445 [Abstract] [Full Text]