The first report of detecting the blaSIM-2 gene and determining the complete sequence of the SIM-encoding plasmid.

An imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain HN39 that harbours a blaSIM-2-carrying plasmid pHN39-SIM, was isolated from a patient with craniocerebral infections in China. The SIM-2 protein differs from SIM-1 by a single amino acid substitution Gly198Asp. pHN39-SIM is a novel 282-kb megaplasmid and it possesses the replication and partition systems of an unknown incompatibility group. pHN39-SIM carries a total of ten separate accessory modules especially including a novel 38.8-kb multidrug resistance region. In addition to the known transposable elements ISPst3, a Tn5563a remnant, IS1071, Tn5046, ΔTn4662a and ΔTn512, harboured in these accessory modules are six novel ones ISPa59 to ISPa62, In1208 and Tn6284. The multidrug resistance region is composed of Tn6284 generated from the insertion of an In4-family integron In1208 into Tn5046, and a Tn4662a-derived element with the insertion of ΔTn512 connected with two other genes. In1208 carries not only blaSIM-2 but several additional genes accounting for resistance to erythromycin, chloramphenicol, rifampicin, streptomycin, quaternary ammonium compounds, sulphonamides and mercury.