KlcAHS genes are ubiquitous in clinical, blaKPC-2-positive, Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates

Carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged and spread widely throughout the world. The mechanisms involved remain unclear. To provide insight, five plasmids were obtained from carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae clinical isolates. The five sequences were acquired, aligned and analyzed. In addition to the blaKPC-2 gene, which encodes beta lactamase, essentially all the plasmids contained a putative anti-restriction protein-encoding gene, KlcAHS. The KlcAHS gene was found in 98.2% of the blaKPC-2-positive, imipenem-resistant K. pneumoniae clinical isolates and in