Carriage of blaKPC-2 by a virulence plasmid in hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract

Based on the genetic composition of pKP70-2, we postulate that the multiple insertion elements that it harbours were responsible for mediating the plasmid recombination events that underlie continuous emergence and genetic adaptation of novel resistance- and virulence-encoding mobile elements in K. pneumoniae.