{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,26]],"date-time":"2026-10-26T19:01:19Z","timestamp":1793041279011,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775520000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Carbapenem-resistant\n                      <jats:italic>Klebsiella pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      (CRKP) has become a significant global health concern. The convergence of carbapenem resistance and elevated virulence potential has led to increasingly difficult-to-treat\n                      <jats:italic>K. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains. Among these, ST15 is an expanding global high-risk clone, yet variants with elevated virulence potential carrying the KL19 capsular type remain rarely reported.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In this study, we characterized the phenotypic and genomic features of a carbapenem-resistant\n                      <jats:italic>K. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      ST15-KL19 clone exhibiting elevated virulence potential, isolated from a tertiary hospital in eastern China.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      All isolates exhibited extensive drug resistance, including resistance to carbapenems, and carried the\n                      <jats:italic>bla<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sub>KPC-2<\/jats:sub>\n                      gene. Whole-genome sequencing revealed\u00a0a conserved chromosomal virulence-associated profile and hybrid plasmids carrying multiple resistance determinants. The\n                      <jats:italic>bla<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sub>KPC-2<\/jats:sub>\n                      gene was located within a stable composite transposon, suggesting efficient mobility and long-term maintenance. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the isolates were closely related to other Chinese ST15-KL19 strains, indicating recent clonal expansion and local dissemination.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The identification of this clone highlights the ongoing convergence of multidrug resistance and elevated virulence potential in\n                      <jats:italic>K. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      , which poses challenges for infection control and clinical management. These findings emphasize the importance of continuous genomic surveillance to monitor the spread of high-risk\n                      <jats:italic>K. pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\n                      lineages.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2026.1745492","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T05:34:31Z","timestamp":1775540071000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Emergence of a carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST15-KL19 clone with elevated virulence potential in a tertiary hospital in China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Guiling","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Testing Center, Northern Jiangsu People\u2019s Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yujing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guqi","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Longlong","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinan","family":"Jiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lin","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chuanli","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Testing Center, Northern Jiangsu People\u2019s Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2164-12-402","article-title":"BLAST Ring Image Generator (BRIG): simple prokaryote genome comparisons","volume":"12","author":"Alikhan","year":"2011","journal-title":"BMC Genomics"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1009","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btv688","article-title":"hybridSPAdes: an algorithm for hybrid assembly of short and long reads","volume":"32","author":"Antipov","year":"2016","journal-title":"Bioinf. 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