Abstract
Completed sequences of three plasmids from a carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate, SH9, were obtained. In addition to the pLVPK-like virulence-conferring plasmid (pVir-CR-HvKP_SH9), the two multidrug-resistant plasmids (pKPC-CR-HvKP4_SH9 and pCTX-M-CR-HvKP4_SH9) were predicted to originate from a single pKPC-CR-HvKP4-like multireplicon plasmid through homologous recombination. Interestingly, the bla(KPC-2) gene was detectable in five tandem repeats exhibiting the format of an NTE(KPC)-Id-like transposon (IS26-ΔTn3-ISKpn8-bla(KPC-2)-ΔISKpn6-korC-orf-IS26). The data suggest an important role of DNA recombination in mediating active plasmid evolution.