Multidrug resistance (MDR)–encoding plasmids are considered major molecular vehicles responsible for transmission of antibiotic resistance genes among bacteria of the same or different species. Delineating the complete sequences of such plasmids could provide valuable insight into the evolution and transmission mechanisms underlying bacterial antibiotic resistance development. However, due to the presence of multiple repeats of mobile elements, complete sequencing of MDR plasmids remains technically complicated, expensive, and time-consuming. Here, we demonstrate a rapid and efficient approach to obtaining multiple MDR plasmid sequences through the use of the MinION nanopore sequencing platform, which is incorporated in a portable device. By assembling the long sequencing reads generated by a single MinION run according to a rapid barcoding sequencing protocol, we obtained the complete sequences of 20 plasmids harbored by multiple bacterial strains. Importantly, single long reads covering a plasmid end-to-end were recorded, indicating that de novo assembly may be unnecessary if the single reads exhibit high accuracy. This workflow represents a convenient and cost-effective approach for systematic assessment of MDR plasmids responsible for treatment failure of bacterial infections, offering the opportunity to perform detailed molecular epidemiological studies to probe the evolutionary and transmission mechanisms of MDR-encoding elements.

The recent convergence of genetic elements encoding phenotypic carbapenem-resistance and hypervirulence within a single Klebsiella pneumoniae host strain represents a major public concern. ...

Detailed genomic and structure-based analysis of a new coronavirus, namely 2019-nCoV, showed that the new virus is a new type of bat coronavirus and is genetically fairly distant from the human SARS coronavirus. Structure analysis of the spike (S) protein of this new virus showed that its S protein only binds weakly to the ACE2 receptor on human cells whereas the human SARS coronavirus exhibits strongly affinity to the ACE receptor. These findings suggest that the new virus does not readily transmit between humans and should theoretically not able to cause very serious human infection. These data are important to guide design of infection control policy and inform the public on the nature of threat imposed by 2019-nCov when results of direct laboratory tests on this virus are not expected to be available in the near future.