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Genomic Shift in Population Dynamics of mcr-1-positive Escherichia coli in Human Carriage.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Shen, Yingbo 
Zhang, Rong 
Shao, Dongyan 
Yang, Lu 
Lu, Jiayue 

Abstract

Emergence of the colistin resistance gene, mcr-1, has attracted worldwide attention. Despite the prevalence of mcr-1-positive Escherichia coli (MCRPEC) strains in human carriage showing a significant decrease between 2016 and 2019, genetic differences in MCRPEC strains remain largely unknown. We therefore conducted a comparative genomic study on MCRPEC strains from fecal samples of healthy human subjects in 2016 and 2019. We identified three major differences in MCRPEC strains between these two time points. First, the insertion sequence ISApl1 was often deleted and the percentage of mcr-1-carrying IncI2 plasmids was increased in MCRPEC strains in 2019. Second, the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), aac(3)-IVa and blaCTX-M-1, emerged and coexisted with mcr-1 in 2019. Third, MCRPEC strains in 2019 contained more virulence genes, resulting in an increased proportion of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) strains (36.1%) in MCRPEC strains in 2019 compared to that in 2016 (10.5%), implying that these strains could occupy intestinal ecological niches by competing with other commensal bacteria. Our results suggest that despite the significant reduction in the prevalence of MCRPEC strains in humans from 2016 to 2019, MCRPEC exhibits increased resistance to other clinically important ARGs and contains more virulence genes, which may pose a potential public health threat.

Description

Keywords

Colistin, Escherichia coli, Genomics, Human, mcr-1, Humans, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli Proteins, Drug Resistance, Bacterial, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Genomics, Plasmids, Population Dynamics

Journal Title

Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1672-0229
2210-3244

Volume Title

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)
Sponsorship
MRC (via Cardiff University) (MR/S013768/1)