Enterobacterales plasmid sharing amongst human bloodstream infections, livestock, wastewater, and waterway niches in Oxfordshire, UK

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.85302
• Publication Date: 2023-03-23T15:15:16Z
• Authors: William Matlock; Samuel Lipworth; Kevin K Chau; Manal AbuOun; Leanne Barker; James Kavanagh; Monique Andersson; Sarah Oakley; Marcus Morgan; Derrick W Crook; Daniel S Read; Muna Anjum; Liam P Shaw; Nicole Stoesser
• Keywords: Livestock; bloodstream infections; QH301-705.5; Swine; Science; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; genomic epidemiology; Wastewater; beta-Lactamases; Enterobacterales; antimicrobial resistance (AMR); plasmid; Sepsis; Escherichia coli; Humans; Animals; antimicrobial resistance; One Health; Biology (General); bloodstream infections (BSI); Sheep; Q; R; Genetics and Genomics; United Kingdom; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Medicine; Cattle; Gammaproteobacteria; Plasmids

Plasmids enable the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in common Enterobacterales pathogens, representing a major public health challenge. However, extent plasmid sharing and evolution between causing human infections other niches remains unclear, including emergence plasmids. Dense, unselected sampling is essential to developing our understanding epidemiology designing appropriate interventions limit plasmid-associated AMR. We established geographically temporally restricted collection bloodstream infection (BSI)-associated, livestock-associated (cattle, pig, poultry, sheep faeces, farm soils) wastewater treatment work (WwTW)-associated (influent, effluent, waterways upstream/downstream effluent outlets) Enterobacterales. Isolates were collected 2008 2020 from sites <60 km apart Oxfordshire, UK. Pangenome analysis clusters revealed shared 'backbones', with phylogenies suggesting an intertwined ecology where well-conserved backbones carry diverse accessory functions, AMR genes. Many 'backbones' seen across species niches, raising possibility that movement these followed by rapid gene change could be relatively common. Overall, signature identical likely highly transient one, implying might occurring at greater rates than previously estimated, challenge for future genomic One Health studies.