Antibiotic resistance plasmids cointegrated into a megaplasmid harbouring the blaOXA-427 carbapenemase gene

OXA-427 is a new class-D carbapenemase encountered in different species of Enterobacteriaceae in a Belgian hospital. To study the dispersal of this gene, we describe the comparative analysis of two plasmids containing the blaOXA-427 gene isolated from a Klebsiella pneumoniae and an Enterobacter cloacae complex strain. The two IncA/C2 plasmids containing blaOXA-427 share the same backbone, however, in the K. pneumoniae this plasmid is cointegrated into an IncFIB plasmid forming a 321 kb megaplasmid with multiple multi-resistance regions.