{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,11]],"date-time":"2025-12-11T13:15:41Z","timestamp":1765458941501,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,11]],"date-time":"2025-12-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765411200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Escherichia coli sequence type 648 (ST648), a lineage within the clinically important phylogroup F, has disseminated worldwide in humans and animals. In this study, we performed whole-genome sequencing and comparative genomic analysis for two New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (blaNDM-5) carrying E. coli strains: ECsOL198, recovered from a wild Eurasian otter in Northern Lebanon, and ECOL247, isolated from a hospitalized leukemia patient. Both isolates belonged to phylogroup F and serotype O9:H4, and exhibited IncFIA, IncFIB, and IncFII plasmids. They shared a similar antimicrobial resistance profile, including a carbapenemase gene (blaNDM-5), \u03b2-lactamase genes (blaTEM-1, blaCTX-M-15, and blaOXA-1), and other genes that confer resistance to aminoglycosides (acc(3)-Ile, aadA2), sulfonamides (sul1), tetracyclines (tet(A)), and fluoroquinolones (mutations in gyrA and parC). Both isolates also carried common virulence-associated genes related to adhesion, iron acquisition, environmental persistence, and immune evasion. Whole-genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST) revealed that both isolates formed a distinct subclade closely related to a bloodstream-derived ST648 isolate from India, indicating limited relatedness to global clones. These findings highlight the transmission of nearly clonal multidrug-resistant E. coli ST648 in both clinical and non-clinical settings, raising concerns about the threat to public health.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms13122824","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,11]],"date-time":"2025-12-11T12:57:41Z","timestamp":1765457861000},"page":"2824","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Genomic Insights into blaNDM-5-Producing Escherichia coli ST648 Isolates from Human and Wildlife Sources in Lebanon"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Zahraa F.","family":"Samadi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 1107 2809, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-9623-3478","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ziad C.","family":"Jabbour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zeinab R.","family":"Hodroj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-9146-9397","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hadi M.","family":"Hussein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8321-4025","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdallah","family":"Kurdi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lama","family":"Hamadeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Pillar Genomics Laboratory, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0622-8191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rami","family":"Mahfouz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Pillar Genomics Laboratory, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7629-4357","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mahmoud I.","family":"Khalil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 1107 2809, Lebanon"},{"name":"Molecular Biology Unit, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21568, Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9125-5137","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rana","family":"El Hajj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 1107 2809, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ghassan M.","family":"Matar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7516-7919","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antoine G.","family":"Abou Fayad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Bacterial Pathogens, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bendary, M.M., Abdel-Hamid, M.I., Alshareef, W.A., Alshareef, H.M., Mosbah, R.A., Omar, N.N., Al-Sanea, M.M., Alhomrani, M., Alamri, A.S., and Moustafa, W.H. 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