UCIBIO/REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Present address: Antibiotic Resistance Evolution Group, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, 24306 Plön, Germany; Department of Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics, Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
Microb Genom. 2020 Oct;6(10). doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.000424.
Carbapenemases inactivate most β-lactam antibiotics, including carbapenems, and have frequently been reported among , spp. and spp. Traditionally, the horizontal gene transfer of carbapenemase-encoding genes (CEGs) has been linked to plasmids. However, given that integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are possibly the most abundant conjugative elements among prokaryotes, we conducted an analysis to ascertain the likely role of ICEs in the spread of CEGs among all bacterial genomes (=182 663). We detected 17 520 CEGs, of which 66 were located within putative ICEs among several bacterial species (including clinically relevant bacteria, such as , and ). Most CEGs detected within ICEs belong to the IMP, NDM and SPM metallo-beta-lactamase families, and the serine beta-lactamase KPC and GES families. Different mechanisms were likely responsible for acquisition of these genes. The majority of CEG-bearing ICEs belong to the MPF, MPF and MPF classes and often encode resistance to other antibiotics (e.g. aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones). This study provides a snapshot of the different CEGs associated with ICEs among available bacterial genomes and sheds light on the underappreciated contribution of ICEs to the spread of carbapenem resistance globally.
碳青霉烯酶使大多数β-内酰胺类抗生素（包括碳青霉烯类）失活，并且经常在 spp. 和 spp. 中报道。传统上，碳青霉烯酶编码基因（CEGs）的水平基因转移与质粒有关。然而，鉴于整合子和转座子（ICEs）可能是原核生物中最丰富的可移动遗传元件，我们进行了一项分析，以确定 ICEs 在 CEG 在所有细菌基因组（=182663）中的传播中可能发挥的作用。我们检测到 17520 个 CEG，其中 66 个位于几种细菌（包括临床相关细菌，如 、 和 ）中的推定 ICE 内。在 ICE 内检测到的大多数 CEG 属于 IMP、NDM 和 SPM 金属β-内酰胺酶家族以及丝氨酸β-内酰胺酶 KPC 和 GES 家族。这些基因的获得可能涉及不同的机制。携带 CEG 的大多数 ICE 属于 MPF、MPF 和 MPF 类，并且通常编码对其他抗生素（例如氨基糖苷类和氟喹诺酮类）的抗性。本研究提供了在可利用的细菌基因组中与 ICE 相关的不同 CEG 的快照，并揭示了 ICEs 在全球范围内传播碳青霉烯类耐药性方面的作用未被充分认识。
