Abstract
BACKGROUND: Emergence of carbapenem resistant Escherichia coli pathovars and their environmental dissemination are alarming problems. E. coli isolated from sewage water of hospital setting conferred a high resistance towards β-lactams, particularly towards carbapenem. This prompted us to perform whole genome sequence analysis to investigate the antimicrobial determinants, pathogenicity status and mobile genetic elements associated with resistance genes. RESULTS: To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of ST 315 carrying NDM-4 from India. The genome analysis has revealed the unknown characteristics associated with this sequence type (ST 315) like resistance and virulence factors. Based on virulence markers, its pathotype was identified as ExPEC. Furthermore, a mobile plasmid with multiple β-lactamases genes and clinically relevant resistance markers was detected. Phylogenetic analysis of Inc F plasmids sequences carrying ESBLs and NDM variants, revealed un-relatedness in these plasmids due to their varying size and backbone sequences. CONCLUSIONS: Presence of carbapenem resistant E. coli ST 315 with high level antibiotic resistance, near hospital environment is an alarming situation in context to its spread. WGS based analyses have provided details on virulence and resistance status which could overcome the lack of information available on ST 315, globally. This could further help in its quick detection and control in clinical settings.