Diversity of plasmids in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae: a comparison of commensal and clinical isolates.

In this study, the plasmid content of clinical and commensal strains was analysed and compared. The replicon profile was similar in both, except for L, M, A/C and N (detected only in clinical strains) and HI1 (only in commensal strains). Although I1 and F were the most frequent replicons, only IncI1 ST12 was associated with bla CMY-2 in both populations. In contrast, the widespread resistant IncF plasmids were not linked to a single epidemic plasmid.