As the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes becomes an increasing global threat, improved understanding of mobile genetic elements which contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes, becomes more critical. We created transconjugants from the mating of three chromosomally isogenic Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (blaKPC) positive Citrobacter freundii isolates with a laboratory strain of Escherichia coli and evaluated the movement of small cryptic plasmids (SCPs), p3223 and p1916, when larger blaKPC-plasmids were transferred. In all of the 143 transconjugants, multiple plasmids, both large and small, transferred with each mating. When two blaKPC-plasmids were present in the host, frequently (87%; 98/113) both would be transferred during mating. p3223 is found in a wide range of bacterial hosts that harbor AMR genes; p1916 has been identified in only a limited number of publicly available sequences to date. From our evaluation, there is still much to learn about SCPs, and the high rate of co-transfer of multiple plasmids from real-world carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriales.

中文翻译：

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不要忽视这个小家伙：对小质粒与较大的碳青霉烯酶基因质粒共缀合的频率进行评估。

随着抗微生物耐药性（AMR）基因的传播成为日益严重的全球性威胁，对有助于抗微生物耐药性基因传播的移动遗传元件的更好理解变得越来越重要。我们通过三种染色体等基因的肺炎克雷伯氏菌碳青霉烯酶（blaKPC）阳性弗氏柠檬酸杆菌与实验室菌株的交配来创建转接合子，并评估了当转移较大的blaKPC质粒时，小型隐性质粒（SCP），p3223和p1916的运动情况。 。在所有143个转导结合体中，每次交配都会转移大小的多个质粒。当宿主中存在两个blaKPC质粒时，经常会在交配期间同时转移它们（87％； 98/113）。在具有AMR基因的多种细菌宿主中发现了p3223。迄今为止，仅在有限数量的公共可用序列中鉴定出了p1916。从我们的评估中，仍然有许多关于SCP的知识，以及从现实世界中产生碳青霉烯酶的肠杆菌中多个质粒的高共转移率。