Complete genomic characterisation of two Escherichia coli lineages responsible for a cluster of carbapenem resistant infections in a Chinese hospital

Abstract

The increase in infections as a result of multi-drug resistant strains of Escherichia coli is a global health crisis. The emergence of globally disseminated lineages of E. coli carrying ESBL genes has been well characterised. An increase in strains producing carbapenemase enzymes and mobile colistin resistance is now being reported, but to date there is little genomic characterisation of such strains. Routine screening of patients within an ICU of West China Hospital identified a number of E. coli carrying the blaNDM-5 carbapenemase gene, found to be two distinct clones, E. coli ST167 and ST617. Interrogation of publically available data shows isolation of ESBL and carbapenem resistant strains of both lineages from clinical cases across the world. Further analysis of a large collection of publically available genomes shows that ST167 and ST617 have emerged in distinct patterns from the ST10 clonal complex of E. coli, but share evolutionary events involving switches in LPS genetics, intergenic regions and anaerobic metabolism loci. These may be evolutionary events which underpin the emergence of carbapenem resistance plasmid carriage in E. coli.