Co-Production of NDM-1 and OXA-10 β-Lactamase in Citrobacter braakii Strain Causing Urinary Tract Infection

Abstract

In this study, we describe, for the first time, the co-existence of blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-10 in a carbapenem-resistant Citrobacter braakii strain DY2019 isolated from a patient with urinary tract infection in China. We aimed to investigate the genomic context of two β-lactamase-producing plasmids and characterize the transmission mechanism of the carbapenemase-encoding gene. Whole-genome sequencing of strain DY2019 was performed with Nanopore and Illumina platforms, which revealed a chromosome sequence with the length of 4,830,928 bp, an IncC group plasmid pDY2019-OXA (size of 178,134 bp), and a novel IncHI2 group plasmid pDY2019-NDM (length 348,495 bp). A total of 16 antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) that confer resistance to nine different antibiotic groups were identified in strain DY2019, and 11 of them were carried by plasmid pDY2019-OXA. These data and analyses suggest that the carbapenem-resistant C. braakii strains may serve as potential reservoir of carbapenemase and highlight the need for further close surveillance of this species in clinical settings.