RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Shibu, Preetha A1 McCuaig, Frazer A1 McCartney, Anne L. A1 Kujawska, Magdalena A1 Hall, Lindsay J. A1 Hoyles, LesleyYR 2021 T1 Improved molecular characterization of the Klebsiella oxytoca complex reveals the prevalence of the kleboxymycin biosynthetic gene cluster JF Microbial Genomics, VO 7 IS 6 OP SP 000592 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000592 PB Microbiology Society, SN 2057-5858, AB As part of the ongoing studies with clinically relevant   Klebsiella   spp., we characterized the genomes of three clinical GES-5-positive ST138 strains originally identified as Klebsiella oxytoca. bla OXY gene, average nucleotide identity and phylogenetic analyses showed the strains to be   Klebsiella michiganensis  . Affiliation of the strains to ST138 led us to demonstrate that the current multi-locus sequence typing scheme for   K. oxytoca   can be used to distinguish members of this genetically diverse complex of bacteria. The strains encoded the kleboxymycin biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC), previously only found in   K. oxytoca   strains and one strain of   Klebsiella grimontii  . The finding of this BGC, associated with antibiotic-associated haemorrhagic colitis, in   K. michiganensis   led us to carry out a wide-ranging study to determine the prevalence of this BGC in   Klebsiella   spp. Of 7170 publicly available   Klebsiella   genome sequences screened, 88 encoded the kleboxymycin BGC. All BGC-positive strains belonged to the   K. oxytoca   complex, with strains of four (  K. oxytoca  ,   K. pasteurii  ,   K. grimontii  ,   K. michiganensis  ) of the six species of complex found to encode the complete BGC. In addition to being found in   K. grimontii   strains isolated from preterm infants, the BGC was found in   K. oxytoca   and   K. michiganensis   metagenome-assembled genomes recovered from neonates. Detection of the kleboxymycin BGC across the   K. oxytoca   complex may be of clinical relevance and this cluster should be included in databases characterizing virulence factors, in addition to those characterizing BGCs., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10.1099/mgen.0.000592